the Truth Hurts
by rarmaster
Summary: After being killed at the end of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, the Riku Replica finds himself on Destiny Islands, somehow alive. But how exactly did he get here? Why isn't he dead? And, more importantly, why can't he remember anything?
1. Arrival

yes, I know, theoretically *SPOILER ALERT* the Riku Replica did die. Don't worry, I'll explain what happened eventually. Just got to hang in there

UPDATE! kay, on my profile I have a link to a trailer I made for this story. you might want to check it out. Also, I have dubbed "Rebirthing" by Skillet as the theme song for this fic (the trailer uses this song)

* * *

He made his way to the shore slowly; he hurt too much to move quickly. Once he was on dry land, water only lapping at his feet, he paused and took a moment to cough up the water that had filled his lungs.

_How did I get here?_ he thought, truly confused. He didn't remember a thing.

He started to push himself to his feet, only to be overcome by another fit of coughing.

"Are you alright?" someone called, and he looked up. Running towards him was a girl, probably about his age, with red hair and blue eyes. She knelt in front of him and looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah, I'm alright" he said.

She took a look at his beaten body and frowned. "Are you sure about that?" She ran a hand along one of the cuts on his side. He winced. "What happened to you?" she asked.

He took a second to think about that, but his efforts were pointless. He couldn't remember anything, and was starting to wonder what had happened himself. "I don't know…" he said slowly.

The girl's frown deepened and worry filled her eyes. She turned back towards the island. "Sora!" she called, "can you come here? I need your help with something!"

"Sure!" came the response. A boy, who he could only assume was Sora, came running over. The boy paused once he noticed what it was the girl had called him over for. "Who's this?" he asked.

"Don't ask him questions! He's hurt, we need to get him inside."

"Okay, okay, geez" Sora laughed, and held out his hand. He took it after a second and Sora helped him to his feet. Sora supported him as they made their way towards town.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, the girl spoke up. "My name's Kairi, by the way, do you mind me asking who you are?"

"I'm Riku" he said automatically.

_Well, at least I remember my name,_ he thought with a smile.

"So, Riku, where'd you come from?" Sora asked.

"I can't remember."

"Can you remember anything?" Kairi asked.

Riku shook his head. "Not a thing" he replied with a sigh. It would be great if he could remember, maybe then he'd at least know why he hurt so much. Slowly, he closed his eyes as he limped along, doing his best to recall anything.

"_Hold it"_

_He was in a clearing. Someone else was there, but he couldn't remember their face._

"_You've changed… darkness… scare you…"_

"_I'm me!"_

"_Must be nice… couldn't get away with saying that…"_

_Anger, hate, rage, they flooded his mind. Whoever this person was, he needed to go. There was something about this person that just made him so mad! He pulled out his weapon and charged-_

"Riku!"

He opened his eyes, Kairi was looking at him, and she seemed a bit worried. He noticed that he was also lying down. "Wha- what happened?"

"Sorry," Kairi said, "you just didn't answer the first time. I was a bit worried. Sorry if I woke you up, you probably need the rest. Whatever happened, it certainly wasn't good." She continued what she had previously been doing, which was bandaging one of Riku's wrists. While he had been trying to remember, it seemed she had bandaged up most of his major injuries.

He thought of the memory he had managed to pull up. The fragmented conversation hadn't made much sense to him, but the basic idea of what was going on was clear. He and whoever else was there were fighting.

"I think it was a fight…" he said quietly.

"It must have been a pretty serious fight." Kairi sat down on a nearby chair.

"Yeah…"

Try as he could, though, he couldn't recall the memory again.

"Look what I found!"

Riku and Kairi both turned. Standing in the doorway was Sora, and he was holding something. He tossed what he was holding to Riku. Riku caught it and stared at it in slight disbelief. It was a bundle of clothes. Clothes that were identical to what he was wearing.

"Where'd you find this?" Kairi asked.

"Upstairs," Sora replied. "They were in a pile with a bunch of other clothes."

"Thanks," Riku said.

"No prob."

"C'mon Sora," Kairi said, standing up and grabbing Sora's hand. "Let's leave so he can get changed." She dragged him out of the room.

Riku laughed at the surprised look on Sora's face and sat up. It seemed like the two of them were going through an awful lot of trouble to help him out. Kairi had bandaged his wounds, and Sora went looking for new clothes that he could wear. Riku couldn't help but wonder why they were doing this.

_Maybe it's destiny_, he thought as he changed out of his old clothes and into the new ones. It took him a while, due to his injuries.

_Or maybe I'm just lucky and I happened to run into the two nicest people on this island._

Whatever the reason, he certainly wasn't going to complain about it.

XXX

Sora and Kairi returned later, and the three of them spent quite a while talking. Their conversation consisted of mainly Sora and Kairi asking questions regarding Riku's past and Riku constantly reminding them that he could not remember a thing. Kairi informed him that his injuries should heal in less than a week, except possibly the most serious ones, which lead Riku to ask this question:

"So why are you guys helping me so much?"

"Would you rather we just left you to die on the beach?" was Sora's reply. Kairi let out a small laugh at this.

"We just felt like we should," she said. "This may sound crazy, but I think our hearts are connected. Like the three of us are meant to be friends."

Riku laughed. "So it is just destiny" he mused.

"I guess it is," Sora agreed.

* * *

first chapter of a new story

reviews are welcome and will speed up the process of me writing this, which will lead to me finishing before I lose interest in the story or something.


	2. Fragmented Memories

One week later…

The three of them lay on the shore staring up at the sky. Kairi was pointing out random shapes in the clouds. Sora spent most of his time with his hands behind his head and just listening, but he would point out shapes too. Riku lay with his right hand (which was the damaged one) on his stomach, and left arm by his side. All but two of his injuries had healed completely, one of them being his wrist, and the other was a large gash in his side. He didn't really participate in pointing out cloud shapes, but occasionally he would point out an interesting one that caught his eye.

"Hey look, Sora," he said, pointing at the sky. "It's you and me."

Sure enough, there in the sky was a cloud shaped Riku and a cloud shaped Sora, each in a fighting stance. Riku watched the clouds with mild interest that grew rapidly. As he watched, the cloud Sora and the cloud Riku started fighting, and it was a pretty epic fight.

The cloud Sora attacked and the cloud Riku was knocked off his feet and started falling.

_He was falling…_

_Falling…_

_Falling…_

_He hit the ground, or what he assumed was ground, hard. He stood up and took a look around. He seemed to be in the halls of some sort of castle, but he just couldn't remember where exactly…_

"_Riku… I think I'll jog your memory"_

_He turned. Sora was standing there, in his fighting stance, Keyblade in hand. Riku wasn't sure what to do, but his body had its own ideas._

"_Go ahead and try" he laughed._

_The two of them charged into battle-_

"Aw, looks like you won, Riku" Sora laughed. Riku gasped, pulled out of the dream. He looked at the clouds and noticed that the cloud Sora was slowly floating away. "I bet I could have beaten you if we actually fought though."

Riku chuckled half-heartedly. "I don't know," he told Sora. "Let's just wait until my wrist heals, then we'll find out."

"Okay!"

Despite Sora's upbeat attitude about the whole idea, Riku was troubled. If that odd dream he had really had been a memory… that would mean Sora and him were fighting, maybe even enemies.

_A forgotten enemy…_

Riku turned to look at Sora, who was happily discussing something totally random with Kairi. He didn't seem worried one bit. If the two of them were enemies, Sora was doing a great job of hiding it.

_Unless… he forgot too_

_No, that's ridiculous, I'm probably just overreacting_

Riku closed his eyes, just listening to the sound of the waves. It was calming, just laying there, nothing but the sound of the waves and the voices of his friends. The sun beat down on him, but it wasn't hot, just warm.

_This is the life. Just laying here and doing nothing, and without anything to worry about..._

_He found himself on the island, but it was night, and a storm looked like it was moving in. He looked around a bit and then laughed. "I guess I fell asleep. I must be tired; this is the second time I've dosed off."_

_Deciding he best have a look around, he started off in a random direction._

"_Come, this way…" a voice called. He turned, only just in time to see a cloaked figure walk off. Curious, he followed._

_The cloaked figure led him to cave. He went inside after it, only to find that the cloaked figure had disappeared. He took a look around the cave, and found a strange door. He approached it slowly._

_The door started to open and darkness started leaking out of it._

"_SINK INTO THE ABYSS!" someone shouted, and the door flung itself open, and darkness came rushing out. He threw his hands up over his face to shield himself-_

He opened his eyes quickly and found himself safe on the beach. Sora and Kairi were still there, still talking, and for the most part oblivious to him.

"Was that… another memory?" Riku asked himself quietly. But he shook his head. "It didn't feel like one." He sat up slowly, and turned around. There, right in front of him, was where the cloaked figure had led him in the dream. "Maybe…"

He got too his feet. Sora and Kairi looked up at him, and Sora started to ask something, but he shook his head. Kairi gave him a worried look, but she and Sora returned to their conversation. Riku headed in the direction of the cave.

Sure enough, the cave was there, just as he had seen it in his dream, except the door wasn't there.

"I should tell Sora and Kairi about this…" he said, and started to turn around. But then he laughed and sat down. "No," he whispered, "this is my secret place. It can be my thinking spot, where I go when I need some peace." He picked up a rock and ran it down one of the walls. A line was now scratched into the wall, and he slowly smiled. "A place where I can try and remember things."

Now grinning, he slowly started to sketch out the fragmented memories he had remembered.


	3. Competition

Two days had passed, and in that amount of time Riku's wounds had finished healing. Due to this, he and Sora were finally going to have their fight.

"You ready, Sora?" Riku asked, readying his wooden sword.

"Yeah!" Sora replied, his own wooden sword ready.

And thus, the repetitive whacking one another with a toy sword began. Try as he could, Sora couldn't land one hit on Riku. Riku, however, was beating the crap out of Sora. The fight didn't even last a minute.

"So you bet you could have beaten me, huh?" Riku sneered with a smile.

"I-I was going easy on you!" Sora replied hotly.

"Of course you were,"

"Nice going Riku!" Kairi laughed, "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Like I'm supposed to remember?" Riku asked in response.

"Well you do seem to remember how to fight just fine," Sora said.

"There are some things you just can't forget," Riku told him.

Sora got into a fighting stance again. "How about a rematch?"

Riku resumed his fighting stance.

The battle begun.

Of course, things went pretty much the same as the last battle, except that Sora actually managed to hit Riku a few times. Sora swung, Riku dodged and then unleashed a massive combo before backing out of Sora's reach. They continued this pattern for a while.

Riku started to move in for the finishing blow, but a cloaked figure standing off to the side caught his attention.

"Huh?"

His sudden moment of confusion was his downfall, because just then Sora knocked him off his feet and knocked the sword out of his hand.

"I win!" Sora proclaimed, pointing his wooden sword at Riku's throat.

Riku looked up at Sora, a bit angry, but turned back to look at where the cloaked figure was standing. Only, the figure was gone. Riku frowned, but cast the thought aside.

"Alright, you win," he laughed as got to his feet. Sora grinned. "But…" Riku sighed, "the score is tied. How about another match, then we'll see who the winner _really_ is."

Sora took a moment to think about that.

"You could always race," Kairi suggested.

Sora and Riku both looked at her, then at each other, and nodded.

"On my count!" Kairi called as the two boys got ready for the race. "3… 2… 1!"

They took off.

After a long day of fighting, racing, and Sora and Riku being competitive about everything it was possible to be competitive at, the three friends collapsed on the shore out of exhaustion.

"I still think I would have beaten you that last time we fought if I hadn't tripped" Sora said, turning to look at Riku.

"I'd argue, but I'm just too tired."

Kairi laughed. "You two are so ridiculous! Just give it up already Sora, Riku beat you."

"I beat him loads of times!"

"You beat me twice"

"Did not! It was at least four times!"

"Whatever"

They sat in silence for a while.

"I need to get home" Kairi said, standing up. "You two coming? Or should I just leave you here so you can compete some more?"

They all laughed.

Sora started to tell her that they were coming, but Riku interrupted.

"We'll head home in a minute."

Sora watched Kairi walk away, and then turned to look at Riku. "What'd you do that for? I thought you were too tired for another rematch."

"You like her, don't you?"

"What?"

Riku chuckled. "C'mon Sora, I've only been here a week and it's obvious."

"Oh," Sora muttered, scratching his head and staring at the ground. "Why are you bringing this up?"

Riku turned to look out at the ocean. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, smelling the salty air. There was something off… "Trouble." He said simply. "Trouble's coming." He opened his eyes. "And I feel… like… like I need to protect her."

Sora looked at his friend, confused, but said nothing.

"Maybe not her, exactly," Riku said quietly as a breeze hit them. "Back home, I can barely remember, but there was someone I was supposed to protect. And Kairi reminds me of her. A lot. I just thought I'd let you know, so you don't think I'm trying to get between the two of you or something."

Sora laughed. "I wouldn't have thought that!"

Riku raised his eyebrows. "Really? You didn't seem all that happy when she was cheering for me today." He watched as Sora processed an answer for a second, and then stood up and walked away.


	4. Unknown Force

"_Huh? What are you supposed to be?" the other guy asked upon noticing him._

_He laughed._

"_Surprised?" he asked with a smirk, "I guess you should be. After all, I look just like you. I'll tell you what I am. I'm an exact replica of you that Vexen made from your data."_

"_So you're a fake me" the other guy said slowly_

"_Not a 'fake'!" he replied angrily. "I don't care if you're 'real'! You're not better! We share the same body and the same talents. But there is one easy way to tell us apart, though." He pointed fiercely at the other guy, who seemed a bit taken aback, but waited for him to continue. "Unlike you, I fear nothing."_

"_Are you, calling me, a coward?"_

"_You're afraid of the dark!" he taunted. "The darkness inside you still frightens you, no matter what you say." _

_The other guy scowled, angry, but unsure of what to say._

"_But, I'M different. I embrace the Darkness. I can make it do whatever I want." He summoned up his darkness and his weapon. "So…" he got in a fighting stance and smirked. "I can wipe the floor with you."_

_The battle began. They both attacked pretty much the same, though he used dark attacks quite often and attacked ruthlessly. The other guy was extremely good at avoiding him though, and when he braved up enough for an attack, his attacks HURT. It got even worse when the other guy decided to use HIS darkness._

_It became impossible for him to avoid anything the other guy threw at him. Dark Firaga was the other guy's favorite attack, and he used it often. Neither of them backed off from the good old hack and slash method, though._

_Their blades clashed once, and they glared at each other, both snarling._

_Only slightly conscious in his dream, Riku realized who he was fighting._

_He was fighting himself._

_The other guy, the real guy, backed up, and then went in for the finishing blow. He was too slow to block it, and gasped._

"_How can I lose to YOU?" he asked, falling to his knees. He stared at the ground, breathing heavily, just focusing on getting his energy back._

"_Hey! Fake!" the real guy said, happiness just dripping off his voice. He looked up, though not extremely happy about the idea of being called a fake. "I thought I heard you say you were gonna wipe the floor with me."_

"_Hmph," he said. "Don't forget, I'm still new. I'll get stronger and stronger." He pushed himself to his feet. "Next time we fight; you're finished!"_

"_Then let's fight now!" the real guy charged and attacked, but he blocked it easily with darkness. The real guy hit the floor with a groan, and he laughed._

"_It's nice having darkness on my side!" He laughed. "You are SO missing out." He watched in amusement as the real guy struggled to get up. "How can you be scared of something that can be so thrilling?"_

"_Enough!" the real guy gasped._

"_Hmph. So now the coward is playing tough." He turned and smiled. "So long Real Thing, hope you don't miss me." And he ran off._

_XXX_

_He opened the door and entered. The three people in the room all looked up and turned their attention to him. He walked towards them._

"_So, how was the real thing?" one of them asked. He knew who this person was, but just couldn't place the name. The name didn't matter though, the only thing that did matter was that this person was important, and he'd better listen to what they had to say._

"_He's spineless," he replied. "In no time at all, I'll be better than him."_

"_In the meantime, would you be interested in meeting another who's considered a hero?"_

"_You mean Sora. I hear he's somewhere in the castle. You want me to take care of him?"_

"_We'll see… yes… I intend to make good use of you."_

"_No worries," he told them confidently. "The real Riku was nothing, Sora won't be either. They're no match for me."_

_XXX_

Riku shot awake in seconds. He thought over the dream quickly, making sure he wouldn't forget anything, especially since the dream was fleeing quickly.

"Was that… another memory?" he asked himself quietly. He took a glance out the window; it was still dark. He thought for a second about just going back to sleep, and then decided against it. He would head to his Secret Place and work out what just happened. Besides, if he went to sleep now, he might just forget what he had remembered.

_If it was a memory at all,_ he reminded himself, and then headed off.

XXX

He spent hours in his secret place, thinking, and scratching more pictures into the wall. Eventually hunger drove him out, though. His stomach was growling too much for him to concentrate anymore, so he left.

When he got outside, the sun had already risen, and it was extremely bright. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the light and then headed for the smaller island, where Sora and Kairi were. Hopefully, they had food with them.

"There you are, Riku!" Sora said when he saw him. He and Kairi were sitting in the tree, as usual. "We wondered when you were gonna show up."

"We heard you headed down earlier this morning," Kairi added. "We brought you some breakfast, just in case you hadn't eaten."

"Thanks." Riku took the food Kairi handed him gratefully, and tried not to stuff his face.

"So why did you come down so early?" Sora asked once Riku had finished eating.

"Couldn't sleep," Riku replied, leaning against the tree next to them. "Thought I might come down here and get some thinking done."

"Whatcha thinking about?" Kairi asked

"Nothing really, just trying to remember."

"Remember anything?"

Riku thought about telling them, but decided against it and shook his head. There was no reason to tell them something when he couldn't even make sense of it. "Nothing" he said.

"That's too bad," Kairi said, and turned to Sora. "I wonder if Riku's world is out there somewhere."

"What do you mean?" he asked

"Well, Riku had to come from somewhere, right? What if it was another world?"

"That's ridiculous!"

Riku closed his eyes and let the two of them argue about it. To him, it didn't matter. He sighed, listening to the sound of the waves and just letting the world move on around him. It was peaceful. Almost too peaceful.

He shuddered and opened his eyes. Something didn't feel right; there was something in the air, something that shouldn't be there.

"The calm before the storm," he muttered, and looked out towards the horizon. There were no clouds in sight, but that didn't mean anything. He tensed immediately. Sora and Kairi stopped their arguing and turned to look at him.

"Trouble," Riku said simply. "Something's coming."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked. "What could possibly be coming?"

Just as he said it, a small black creature with glowing yellow eyes appeared.


	5. the Heartless and the Unremembered

appologies it took so long to get this chapter up! School's becoming a hassle, and my writing schedule got thrown off. I can promise about a chapter a week, and I hope that it won't stay like that for long. the more I get up the better.

but besides that, here's a quick little note: this story from about here on out will start strongly supporting the Riku ReplicaxNamine pairing. if you've got a problem with that, I'm sorry, nothing I can do. I'm not just going to rewrite my story because you don't like what I'm writing.

* * *

"Trouble," Riku said simply. "Something's coming."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked. "What could possibly be coming?"

Just as he said it, a small black creature with glowing yellow eyes appeared.

"Told you," Riku said as three more of the creatures appeared. "C'mon, we need to get out of here."

The three of them ran across the bridge that led off the small island, ignoring the creatures that kept sprouting up. Riku looked around at all of the creatures and scowled. There had to be something he could do to stop them. And maybe there was…

He stopped running, and turned to face all the creatures. He heard Sora and Kairi stop running behind him.

"Go! I'll hold them off!" he called over his shoulder. Kairi continued running, but Sora ran towards him.

"You can't fight alone!" Sora said, pulling out a wooden sword. Riku would have laughed, but now wasn't the time.

"Are you kidding? That thing's going to be useless on these guys!"

"What do you expect to fight with?"

"I'll find something!" Riku said. "Now go!"

"I'm not leaving!"

Riku turned to look at Sora. "You have to protect Kairi!"

Sora stared at Riku for a moment, processing what his friend had said. He nodded and ran off.

"Alright, let's see if I still remember how to do this," Riku muttered to himself, and held out his hand. His weapon immediately materialized, and he smiled. This was going to be easy. He swung his blade sideways, destroying three of these creatures in the process. They faded away in a puff of darkness.

It was almost too easy.

Each swipe of his blade killed at least two of the creatures. He stabbed one, and ended up going straight through it and through four more. There was little these creatures could do to hurt him, unless they attacked in hordes. But he was able to dispose of these hordes quickly before he took much damage.

The creatures kept jumping at him for an attack, but he destroyed them before they could land a hit. Most of the battle consisted of simple hacking and slashing, and each creature went down with a single hit. Despite the fact that the creatures were easy to kill, they just kept coming.

And coming…

And coming…

_Will they ever stop?_ Riku thought, looking at the creatures that were surrounding him. He backed up, only finding ocean behind him. He was surrounded, and tired; mostly due to the fact he had little sleep last night, and that he had been fighting for the past hour. No matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to stop these things.

_I won't be able to keep this up for much longer!_

He brought up his blade to block one of the creatures from attacking him. But it did nothing to help him, because every other creature that was around him took that moment to attack. It was impossible to get rid of them, and they had him on the ground now, all piled on top of him.

"NO!" he shouted, but it was no use. He lost consciousness in seconds.

Therefore, he did not notice the cloaked figure that appeared and banished the creatures. It was impossible, down in the depths of his mind, to notice anything that would happen for a while.

XXX

_"Protect-" someone shouted._

_"Kairi" he finished automatically, but that didn't sound right. There was someone else… and it wasn't Kairi. Someone he had to protect… but he couldn't even remember her name. He groaned, extremely frustrated with himself._

_"Why can't I remember?" he asked aloud. No answer came._

_He thought long and hard, but he couldn't remember a thing._

_Well, nothing concerning her, anyways, but another memory did come floating back._

_XX_

_It was almost funny, the look on that guy's face when they entered. Of course, names were fleeting as usual. The guy had hair of a steel blue color, and when he noticed Riku, he backed up against the wall, a look of terror on his face._

_After a second though, the guy realized who he was. "Oh… Oh, yes. The Replica, of course. We can use this Riku to defeat the real one. Axel?"_

_The man behind him, Axel, ignored this guy and said: "Wouldn't you like to be real?"_

_He nodded, not taking his eyes of the blue-haired guy._

_"All you need is the kind of power the real Riku doesn't have. If you can get that, you can be a new person – not Riku, nor anybody else. You won't just be a copy of someone. You will be unique, your OWN self."_

_He said nothing, just considering the idea._

_"Axel! What are you saying to him?"_

_Axel ignored the guy's comment again. "You know, he's as good a place to start as any."_

_He took a step forward, the idea seeming like a great one. What he would give to be his own self…_

_"You can't do this!"_

_He picked the blue-haired guy up by the collar and started to drain his life force. Cruel as it may seem, the guy was dying anyway. The life force flooded through him, giving him new strength. The guy started to fade away._

_"So sorry, Zexion. You just found out way too much."_

_Zexion, so that was his name… It didn't matter though, he was already gone._

_XXX_

Riku opened his eyes slightly, as confused as ever. He had just remembered something, he was sure of it, but the memory didn't even make sense. He pushed himself into a sitting position, realizing what had led up to this memory. He had been fighting those creatures. What were they called? He knew, somehow, he did…

"Heartless," he muttered. He jumped to his feet, weapon in hand, and looked around frantically. But they were all gone, not a single Heartless remained.

"I wonder what happened to them…" he said. Of what little he remembered, they weren't the type of creature that would just leave randomly. "Someone had to have gotten rid of them, I guess." He was a bit thankful for that, but there was no way they were gone for good.

"I need to see if Sora and Kairi are okay, the Heartless might have moved on once I went down." Riku took off at a dead run back to the town. Anything could have happened. He found Sora and Kairi quickly, for it seemed they had been waiting for him.

"Riku!" Kairi called, she was the first to notice him. But it was Sora who seemed more relieved to see that he was alright; he ran towards Riku.

"You're alright!" Sora said excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Riku replied.

Kairi had made her way over. "You sure?" she asked. Riku nodded, even though now that he thought about it, he might not have been. His head hurt like crazy, and he was sore all over. But at least Sora and Kairi were alright; more importantly Kairi, but only because she reminded him so much of that one girl.

_Whose name I can't even remember…_

"I didn't even think you would make it out of that!" Sora said. "There had to have been a million of those creatures! How did you ever manage to get rid of them all?"

"I didn't-" Riku admitted. "Someone else did. I didn't see who though, they arrived while I was unconscious."

"_Unconscious_!" Sora and Kairi both asked, sounding shocked.

"The Heartless all attacked at once and knocked me out somehow. I'm perfectly fine." He paused, noticing the slightly confused looks on their faces. "Oh, Heartless, that's what those creatures are called. They're beings who don't have hearts-" he frowned and shook his head, that wasn't right. "No, that's not it. They're what becomes of someone when they lose their heart. If darkness consumes a person's heart, they're turned into a Heartless."

"How do you know this?" Sora asked, sounding slightly doubtful.

"I remembered."

"Did you remember anything else?" Kairi looked at him excitedly.

Riku frowned, not wanting mention that one memory. "Not much. Well-" he paused; there was nothing wrong with telling them about that girl. "There was this girl. I can't remember her though… not really… just bits and pieces as always."

"What'd she look like?" Sora asked, hoping to help Riku out a bit. It seemed like this was important to him.

Riku closed his eyes and thought hard. "She was… blond. Blue eyes. She looked a lot like Kairi. Not sure why, but there was a reason of why she looked so much like Kairi… I can't remember though." He shook his head and tried to think harder, seeing if he could pull up an image. "Her hair was long, hanging down over her right shoulder, and she wore a white dress."

_He could see her now, standing in front of him, smiling. He smiled back._

He opened his eyes and looked at Sora and Kairi. "I can't remember her name" he told them.

"You'll remember eventually," Sora assured him.

"Yeah," Riku muttered, not sure if he should be happy about the idea or not. Sure, it was great that he would remember her name, but what other memories that might come with it was what worried him.


	6. Confusion

_He walked in at an interesting time. Vexen (he had remembered HIS name, at least) was holding a card, studying it with interest. "That card holds the memories of Sora and Riku's home." Axel explained._

_"It's just a card," he said, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "What good is that?"_

"_With a little help from Namine, you'll have all the real Riku's __memories." Again, names were fleeting, and therefore he couldn't remember the name of the person who spoke. But, it was one of the most memorable members of the Organization, if only because she was the only girl. "Maybe we can get her to make you forget you're nothing but a fake. In__other words, we'll remake your heart so you can be- exactly the same as the__real Riku, 'kay?_

_He gasped, anger rising. "You want to remake my heart?" he asked. "The real Riku is a wimp who's afraid of the dark! What would I want with the heart of a loser?"_

_They ignored him completely._

_"Any objections, Vexen?" she asked, turning to look at him. Vexen seemed deep in thought. "After all, you do want to test Sora, don't you?"_

_Vexen nodded. "It must be done."_

_"How can you?" he asked, shocked. "Are you betraying me?"_

_Vexen smiled and held up the card. "I told you I would make good use of you, didn't I?"_

_"No!" he said, backing up a step._

_"Relax kiddo," the girl said. "I don't think it's going to hurt that much."_

_"I'll hurt you!" he shouted, summoning his weapon and charging. Every ounce of his anger went into that attack, but he was knocked away with a bolt of lightning. He hit the floor, his weapon spinning out of reach. He tried to get back on his feet, ignoring her laughter._

_"Stupid little toy! Think you could defeat me? Where would you ever get a little thought like that?"_

_He abandoned his attempts to stand and instead turned to glare at her. Fear coursed through him as she made her way over._

_"But- look on the bright side. Along with everything else in your head, Namine will erase the memory of me knocking you flat." He continued to back up as she approached, though he knew he couldn't back up much further without hitting the wall. "Instead, she'll implant the loveliest little memories you could ever hope for!" She smiled. "It's no big deal that their all lies."_

_"No-" he said, backing up the last inch he could. "NOO!"_

_XX_

It was this final scream that woke him up. He had fallen asleep on the beach, his body still trying to catch up on all the sleep he was missing. Of course, nearly every time he closed his eyes another memory would drift back to him, so it never felt like he was sleeping.

Riku sighed and sat up, looking out at the water. What stunk the most about all these memories is that not one helped him remember the name of that girl. He considered this angrily for a moment before shaking his head and standing up. It wasn't worth worrying about. He headed off to his Secret Place, hoping to get more thinking done there. Even if sitting on the shore and listening to the waves was peaceful, nothing could match the peace that he could find in his Secret Place.

He spent a while sketching out what he had remembered on the walls, which had become habit lately. While he was sketching, he thought hard about the memory. They were talking about- rewriting his memory. Had they actually done it? Was this why he couldn't remember anything now? He didn't think so, though.

_If they rewrote my memories, what memories did they give me? Is anything I'm remembering even real? Or is it all just fake?_

_And speaking of fake, what was it she had said? Make me forget I was fake? Does that mean I'm not real?_

He turned to look at one of the first few pictures he had drawn. The one that showed him fighting himself.

_I did say in that memory that I was a replica…_

_Is that all I am?_

_A fake with fake memories?_

He shook his head, deciding not to think about that anymore and returned to his drawing.

Once he had finished with that, he moved over to another part of the wall, which he had dedicated to listing all the members of the Organization. He scratched Vexen's name into the wall next to the picture he had drawn of him, and then underneath Vexen drew a hasty picture of the other member he had remembered today. He didn't bother much with detail, why waste time on a jerk like her?

Riku sat down with a sigh and chucked the rock he was holding over his shoulder. He still couldn't remember that one girl's name. It was going to drive him nuts if he didn't remember soon. He ran his hand over a picture he had drawn a few days ago. It was a quite detailed one of him and Sora fighting, and though he couldn't remember the reason why they were fighting exactly, he was positive it had something to do with the girl.

Of course, Riku was still curious why Sora didn't know her. Had he forgotten everything, like he had? Did Sora have nights where his own dreams and memories haunted him? He shook his head, it was unlikely. Sora was just too happy all the time, and when something was troubling Sora, he usually made sure everyone knew about it.

"Just another question that remains unanswered," Riku muttered. "If only I could remember more, maybe then it would all make sense." He turned around, going to retrieve his rock. The rock lay a few feet away from the other wall, which he had yet to cover completely in drawings. He picked up the rock and then looked at the wall thoughtfully. Getting an idea, he began to draw…

XXX

Riku spent many hours laboring over this picture. It had to be perfect, and he made sure to be precise in every detail. When he was finally satisfied, he took a step back to admire his work. It was probably his best drawing yet. Deciding he'd spent enough time sitting there, he went outside to go stretch his stiff limbs.

It wasn't dark yet, though the sun would begin to set within the next hour. He strolled along the shore, wondering if Sora and Kairi were around anywhere. They probably were wondering where the heck he had been all day.

Riku stopped suddenly and looked around. Standing in the shadows was a cloaked figure. He tensed.

"Riku… come here. I want to show you something…"

He frowned, but curiosity got the better of him and he cautiously headed over. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The figure's only response was throwing a rock at him. Riku threw up his arms to shield his face, only to realize there was no need. The rock never hit. Slowly, he lowered his arms and found that the rock was floating about three inches from his face.

"You don't belong here Riku…" the figure said, and the rock fell to the floor.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Riku asked angrily. The figure didn't respond, but turned and started to walk away.

"Hey!" Riku called. "Get back here! Answer me!"

The figure was gone. Riku scowled and bent down to pick up the rock. It was small, round, and black, not to mention ice cold.

_What did he mean by that? Do I really not belong here?_

He closed his fist around the rock and looked up to scowl at where the figure had once stood. To his surprise, Sora and Kairi were standing there. He quickly replaced his scowl with a more blank expression.

"You find something?" Sora asked.

Riku stood up. "Just a rock," he said, holding the rock out for them to see.

"I love those rocks!" Kairi exclaimed, grabbing the rock from his hand. "They're always so warm, like there's a little fire inside of them."

Riku stared at her in disbelief. After a second he frowned and said: "it was ice cold when I picked it up." Upon noticing the confused looks on his friends' faces, he laughed. "I guess the rock just doesn't like me."

"That's ridiculous!" Sora said.

"You think?" Riku asked, grabbing the rock from Kairi and tossing it to Sora. "Throw it at me." Sora paused, staring at him as if he was crazy.

"Go on!" Riku urged. Sora looked down at the rock in his hand and made a face as he usually did when he was thinking hard. After a second he shrugged and threw the rock at Riku. Just like last time, the rock stopped about three inches away from him and floated there for a second before falling to the ground.

"Huh," Sora muttered.

Riku pushed the thought of the rock out of his mind and turned to Sora. "Hey Sora, I'll race you!"

Sora turned to look at him, taking a second process what Riku had said. As soon as he did, he took off at top speed. Riku laughed and raced after him.

Kairi laughed to, and started to follow, but paused. She picked up the rock. After a quick second of thought, she pocketed it and ran to catch up to the boys.


	7. Finally Remembered

The three of them were sitting on the Paopu Fruit tree, as always, watching the sun finish setting. It was dark except for the small glimmer of light the sun cast on the land and the light of the moon. Stars specked the sky.

"Look!" Kairi said suddenly, pointing at the sky. Sora and Riku both looked up to see what she was pointing at, and found a pair of shooting stars.

"Meteor shower," Riku whispered quietly. Those two words reverberated back into the depths of his mind, bringing up whispers of a memory. There was something important that happened once during a meteor shower. Something very important.

He closed his eyes and thought hard; giving everything he had to remember.

_He was little, really little. He couldn't have been much older than five. He could remember, only vaguely, he was sitting on the beach and… there was someone with him. He turned to look, and then smiled. It was that one girl…_

_He felt guilty, that he couldn't remember her name._

_"Riku… look!" she pointed. He looked up and saw a shooting star streak across the sky._

_"Meteor shower," he told her._

_"But- what if a shooting star hits the islands?" she asked, voice shaking with fear._

_Riku laughed and jumped to his feet. "Let it try! If a shooting star comes our way-" he paused, pulling out his wooden sword and pointed it at the sky. "I promise I'll protect you!" He turned to look at her, one big grin on his face._

He pulled himself out of the memory without second thought. It was there, he had remembered! That girl's name, but, oh… it was slipping away again. He gritted his teeth, holding on to the memory as hard as he could.

"N… Na…" He squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating hard.

"Na… Nami…" He groaned; he couldn't lose the memory now! It was too important.

"Nami…uhh…Nami…ne."

That was it! That was her name!

"Namine" he said louder. The name reawakened on old memory.

_Sora walked through the door and did a double take when he saw him. "Riku!" he said, running over._

_Riku frowned. "You'll hurt Namine if you go further" he warned Sora, but Sora didn't get the hint. He never did._

_"You still want to fight?" Sora asked, seeming perplexed. "But Vexen's gone, so now your free!"_

_"It doesn't matter what happens to him. I'm protecting Namine from YOU." He added extra emphasis into that word, hoping that Sora would finally get it. "That's what's in my heart." He sighed. Maybe if he explained himself Sora would understand._

_"Sora," he said quietly. "I made a promise to Namine," he looked down, clutching his fist to his heart. "I promised to… keep her safe."_

_"You did?" Sora asked, sounding as confused as only he could._

_"There was a meteor shower," he explained. "This one night, when she and I were little. Namine got scared and said: 'What if a shooting star hits the islands?' So I told her: 'If a shooting comes this way, I will protect you!'" He had his sword in the air, just like that one night. The memory was fresh in his mind…_

_"You made a promise! With a toy sword!"_

_Those words pulled him back to reality with a shock. "What…?" he asked, lowering his sword. "How do you know about that?" His anger was rising quickly._

_"Because… that was the promise I made to her last night!" Sora said, sounding just as angry as Riku felt. "I would protect her, I said it."_

_"Don't lie!" he shouted angrily. "You weren't the one there that night!"_

_"YOU'RE the one who wasn't there!" Sora shouted back. "That was when she gave her good luck charm to ME!"_

_"Her what?" he asked in shock and disbelief._

_Sora pulled a star shaped charm out of his pocket and held it out so he could see. "See?"_

_He gasped. It wasn't possible! "Tell me… where did you get that?" Something in his mind clicked just then. He clutched his head in pain and staggered for a second before he laughed. "Sora… good try." He reached into his pocket._

_"Huh?"_

_"That must be a fake! I've got the real one right here!" Riku held out his so Sora could see the truth plain and clear._

_"Wha-" Sora looked at the one he was holding. "TWO of them?"_

_He stuck the good luck charm back in his pocket and struck a fighting stance. "Fakes should be destroyed!" he shouted._

Riku opened his eyes. "The good luck charm!" he gasped, feeling his pockets. Then he remembered…

"Oh," he muttered. They had fought again, and Sora had won. After the battle, he was so mad. So mad! He had run off without second thought, dropping his good luck charm on accident. But he was too angry at Sora to go back and pick it up. "Right."

"Something up?" Kairi asked.

"Remembered something" he muttered.

"Oh. What did you remember?"

He shook his head. "Nothing important."

"Okay." Kairi returned to her conversation with Sora. Riku turned to look at the Sora and sighed.

_Does he even have a clue?_

The more Riku thought about it, the less sense it made. If he was remembering Sora, why wasn't Sora remembering him? Nothing about these memories made sense.

_At least I remembered Namine's name_, he reminded himself with a small smile. That in itself was its own reward. But something was nagging at him, and it was worse, especially now that he had remembered her name, where was Namine now? He was supposed to be protecting her, and he didn't even know where she was.

_I need to keep remembering, maybe things will make sense once I have all the memories in place…_

A/N:

hey look, another chapter. whoohoo! umm, it would be really nice if you could just take a second to review so I know I've got people reading this. I feel like I'm updating to no one, and that bothers me. You don't have to put something long and complicated, a simple "cool story" or something would be fine, just as long as I know someone's reading this!


	8. His Secret Place

_"Why so glum, Namine? Is there something that's been troubling you? Are you feeling awful about tinkering with Sora's memory? Or maybe you-"_

_"Cut it out Larxene!" he said before she could get anymore out. It was a good thing he had walked in on time. He made his way over to them, ignoring the jerk, Larxene. His eyes only focused on Namine._

_"Namine-" he told Larxene, even though he didn't even bother to look at her. "She doesn't want to remember Sora."_

_"Is that so?" Larxene asked, but he ignored her._

_He positioned himself so he was in front of Namine and smiled at her. "Don't worry," he said. "Whatever's hurting you, I'll make it go away." He pulled out her good luck charm and showed it to her. Namine looked up. "I swear it on this, the good luck charm you gave me."_

_He pocketed it, and smiled. "See ya."_

_XXX_

Riku stared at the ground, smile on his face and tears threatening to fall from his eyes. These memories, these precious memories, how could he have forgotten them?

_Still missing more pieces_, he thought, frowning. He could call up a million memories of time on the islands, the islands he sat on at this very moment. All of them with Namine, and Sora, but…

He scratched his head, so confused. He could remember these things, but nothing else that mattered. There was a whole chunk of his life just missing. He couldn't remember it at all. Sighing, he looked up and out to sea, thinking hard. It was nice having this quiet time to himself; Sora and Kairi were off exploring or something.

There was something else that didn't make sense though.

Sora.

_How is it that I can remember him, and yet, he has no idea who I am? And I can't remember Kairi either. Was she just never on the islands? Or is there just something else I'm missing?_

He groaned.

"Why is everything so confusing!" he shouted to the sky, though no answer was given back.

XXX

"Hey, what's this place?" Sora looked at the cave like entrance that stood before him and cocked his head to the side, folding his arms. He didn't remember ever seeing it before in his life. He turned away after a second and waved Kairi over.

"Check this out," he told her, indicating the cave. "It looks like some sort of cave." He turned to look at her. "You ever seen it before?"

Kairi shook her head. "Nope. We've never explored this part of the island before, not really."

"Let's take a look inside!" Sora said, and then headed in.

"Whoa…" he gasped in awe, taking a look around. Millions of pictures were scratched into the walls. "Looks like someone's already been here." He took a few steps forward, still taking it all in. He turned back around to look at Kairi. "Do you think Riku knows about this?"

Kairi ran a hand along the wall, looking at a few of the pictures. None of them really caught her eye, until she ran her hand across one. She paused and knelt down to get a better look at it. "Sora," she said quietly. "I think Riku was the one who found this place."

Sora came over to see the picture Kairi had found. It was a rough picture of the three of them. Sora smiled slightly at the fact Riku had drawn him and Kairi holding hands. Off to the side was Riku, a very thoughtful look on his face. Under the picture was the phrase: "Still need a few more memories…"

There was another picture off to the side that caught his eye. It depicted Sora and Riku fighting. Sora studied it a moment, a bit confused and yet curious. His curiosity spiked when he noticed the weapon Riku had drawn him with. It almost looked like a key.

"No wonder Riku's been so confused lately," Kairi said from the other side of the cavern. "Come look at this."

Sora turned away from the picture he was looking at and went to look at what Kairi had found. It was another picture of Riku fighting someone. Sora did a double take when he saw who Riku was fighting.

He was fighting himself.

Another interesting thing about the picture was what Riku had written. Next to one of the Rikus he had written the word: "real". Next to the other Riku was written clearly: "Fake?" Sora stared at this oddity for a minute before Kairi pulled his attention to another picture.

"Who's this?" she asked.

Sora studied the picture for a moment. It was a picture of a girl, and was done in painstaking detail. It seemed Riku had gone through a lot of trouble to do this picture, and Sora wondered briefly how many hours he spent in here.

"I don't know," Sora said. "But I bet it's that one girl Riku told us about. I guess she means a lot to him. There couldn't be any other reason he would have gone through so much trouble for this picture."

"I guess so…"

Sora frowned, looking around the cave again. "C'mon, we should go before Riku returns," he said.

Kairi stood up, a bit confused. "But shouldn't we tell him we've been here?"

Sora shook his head. "This is his secret place. If he wanted us to know about it he would have said something, right?"

Kairi said nothing.

"I think it's just best we don't say anything about it," Sora continued. "He might get mad or something."

Kairi let out a small laugh, and then nodded in agreement. The two of them left.


	9. Welcome to Darkness

A week passed, Riku remembering more and more, but never anything that answered his question. He still had a large chunk of his life missing, the part that lead up to here and now. He sat out on the pier, one leg hanging off the side, foot dangling inches above the water. His chin rested on the knee of his other leg, and he stared out to the endless ocean, watching as the sun set.

He was so confused lately. Everything that happened, everything he did, everything in general, they just all confused him. He had been avoiding Sora and Kairi, because every time he looked at Sora he wondered why Sora couldn't remember him. And Kairi reminded him to much of Namine for him to think straight.

But the most confusing thing of all was the fact that he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. That there was something that defined him, and he didn't have it. Or, more like there was something down inside of him that he couldn't reach; something that he had access to before.

Riku let out a long exasperated sigh. Things were starting to get ridiculous. He closed his eyes, listening to the waves, a tactic that always calmed him down. He took a breath in, and coughed, eyes shooting open. The normal salty sea air was mixed with a hint of rain and… something else. He summoned his weapon and slowly turned around.

Standing behind him were at least ten white creatures with thin limbs, jumping around. Though Riku couldn't remember what they were called, (these creatures were known as Dusks), something familiar about them itched at the back of his mind. He jumped to his feet and attacked one before it knew what was going on, killing it in a quick combo of slashes. The creature disappeared in a puff of what appeared to be white sparks.

After getting rid of about half of them, more started showing up, along with a few Heartless. Riku frowned, before unleashing a wide variety of attacks. The Heartless were the easiest to kill, though the Dusks took a bit more time and thought. Just as it seemed that he was going to win, Sora and Kairi showed up.

"Of course" Riku muttered, slashing and hacking his way through the crowd to reach them. "You two picked a really bad time to show up, you know that?" he called, smashing in the head of a Heartless and swiping his blade through a Dusk. "Now get outta here! Go! I can handle this myself!"

"We aren't going to leave you!" Sora said.

"Yes, you are!" Riku replied, kicking a Heartless into a Dusk. "You don't even have a weapon to fight with! You wouldn't last ten seconds in battle with these things! Now go!"

"But-"

"C'mon Sora," Kairi said, tugging at his sleeve. "I think Riku's right, let's go!"

Sora turned to Kairi, and then back to Riku.

Of course, Sora had to pick _now_ to be stubborn.

"I'll be alright," Riku told him, before turning to attack another Dusk. Sora nodded and took off, Kairi not far behind him.

Riku smiled at their retreating figures, and then went back to the battle at hand. It seemed they just kept coming, an almost never ending wave of Dusks and Heartless. He was instantly reminded of his last battle, only the Dusks being there changed things. Last time, he had to rely on endurance, this time, he would need more strategy.

It wasn't long before he was recalling all the past battles he could remember. Knowledge flooded through him, and he imitated each move he remembered perfectly.

Then it hit him, what he was missing, he figured it out.

The power of darkness.

Smiling, he back-flipped away from the Dusk he was fighting, and as soon as he landed, covered himself in darkness. His clothes shifted, and power suddenly flooded his veins. "I embrace the darkness," he muttered, charging up Dark Firaga. "I can make it do whatever I want." He threw the spell at the oncoming rush of Dusks and Heartless, which obliterated all in its path. He grinned.

Meanwhile…

Sora and Kairi watched from a safe spot far away. Both of them cheered Riku on, watching as he beat the crap out of the Dusks and Heartless.

"Yeah!" Sora cheered, watching Riku do his back-flip away from the creatures. Both of them watched in shock as Riku shifted into Dark Mode. Sora paused mid-cheer, and Kairi leaned closer to get a better look.

There was a split second where they almost didn't recognize Riku. The dark outfit covered his entire body, the only bare skin showing was his face. It didn't look like Riku, yet he wore the look like he owned it, which he did.

The second passed, and they watched in amazement as Riku shot the Dark Firaga through the crowd of creatures.

"What just happened?" Sora asked

"I guess he… remembered," Kairi said, though she didn't sound too sure.

Sora only nodded, too shocked to say any more.

They continued watching in awe as Riku unleashed a wide variety of dark attacks. During one of them he jumped into the air and then bashed the ground (and whatever enemies were nearby) with his blade, causing pillars of darkness to rise around him. Another one, which Sora dubbed as his favorite, was when Riku portalled slashing through enemies from one portal to the next, and after a bit of that, he would drive his blade into the ground again, causing more pillars to rise.

The battle seemed to be leaning in favor of Riku.

Then, it all went wrong.


	10. The Truth

whoa! thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm loving the imagination and ideas I'm getting about what's up with Destiny Islands. Flightfoot, the data idea is AMAZING and I'm surprised that didn't even occur to me when I created this fic. Sadly, I already have a different answer, which should be covered shortly.

appologies for the slight cliffhanger, again, but otherwise the chapter would have been WAY to long

* * *

He was remembering on the go now, flashes of his past flitting through his mind before going. A battle was running through his head at the moment, another fight with Sora. What had led up to it was fleeting, but it had something to do with Namine. Well, it had everything to do with Namine. He had been angry at Sora, because _he_ was supposed to protect her, not Sora. The battle had been a fierce one, but he used the memory and the anger that was flooding through him against the Dusks and Heartless that surrounded him.

But, as the battle reached its end, things started to go wrong. There was no longer any anger to throw into his battle, there was no longer… anything.

_He fell to his knees, fooling Sora into thinking he had won._

_"Riku!" Sora said._

_"Want some more?" he laughed, shooting Dark Firaga at him. Sora took the blast full on, and was knocked off his feet. Riku grinned and stood up, walking over._

_Sora pushed himself into something of a sitting position, and gasped: "Riku!"_

_"Looks like I win" he laughed._

_"Riku, stop!" Namine shouted from behind him._

_He ignored her, raising his blade for the final blow. "You are through!" he shouted, starting to bring his blade down._

_"I said STOP!" Namine shouted, and it felt as if his brain just exploded. He collapsed, though he never felt himself hit the ground._

Outside of his memory, Riku hit the ground, not knowing what had even happened.

_He didn't know that he lay there for so long, and he had no idea what was going on around him. He could hear whispers of voices, someone shouting his name…_

_"Broke his heart… smashed it really…" Larxene. Even in this state he could recognize her voice._

_"Smashed… his heart?" he could hear Sora repeat._

_How nice. Sora did care._

_There was a bit more arguing, something about Riku not being there… then the sound of a body hitting the floor._

_What Larxene said next was what hurt him the most. _

"_All right, have it your way, then. I know it'll kill you to hear this, __but I think I can live with that. That thing lying there is just a puppet that Vexen made as an experiment. No more than a toy. It's laughable, really. It __called you a fake, but IT was a fabrication all along."_

_Those words repeated in his mind, over and over, almost like a broken record. Not real? Just a fabrication? A puppet? Is this all I've ever been? Nothing more than… a toy?_

_No! It can't be! I'm… I'm… I'm REAL! I have to be!_

_Larxene's voice came floating in, breaking his determination. "It was only finished recently? How could it remember anything?"_

"_Its memories with Namine were just planted, not real."_

_It? I'm more than an it! I'm a real living being!_

_Anger flooded through him, but he could do nothing about it._

_He didn't even know how he was still alive right now._

"_Memories that were counterfeit, trumped up, and completely bogus. Isn't that the truth, Namine?"_

_Namine!_

_He had to protect her, he had to make sure Larxene stayed away from her!_

_But he could do nothing._

_She's all I've got! I have to do something!_

"_Don't you get it now? That's what Naminé's powers are about! She can enter, rearrange, and even create new memories-of anything, even things that never happened. The girl you've been trying to protect all this time-is really a manipulative witch who shackles people's hearts!"_

_What? Namine… Namine did this to me? She… she made me like this…_

_But…_

_I can't- can't just—_

_I can't let go of this. Even if they are lies, all these memories of mine, they're all I've got._

_I'm just a copy of… of the real Riku, wherever he is, I never had anything. All I ever was—is a shadow off… him. I had nothing then, and I've got nothing now._

_I've got Namine…_

_I think._

_Speaking of Namine, he could hear her voice._

_She was talking to Sora, explaining what she had done._

_Then, something she said hit him hard._

_One of Sora's friends had asked: "What about Sora's promise?"_

_Sora's promise to protect Namine._

_MY promise to protect Namine._

"_Made up, it was fake. Sora never really promised me anything."_

_Which means I never promised her anything…_

"_Me being with him on the islands—that was a lie, just like everything else. We never met, I was never Sora's friend-"_

_Which means we were never on the islands together either…_

_He sighed, or thought he sighed. He couldn't do anything with his body, he was surprised he could even do so much as to think._

_More conversation passed, none of it interesting, then:_

"_Namine, Marluxia is gonna be up there," one of Sora's friends said. "So maybe you'd better stay down here."_

_Then Sora said: "Yeah. Maybe you could look after Riku?"_

_Of course, Sora cared, even if he wasn't the real Riku… Sora was so stubborn._

_But, it was nice of him._

_He could feel Namine sitting next to him somehow, and her presence calmed him. Even if all these thoughts inside of him were just planted, these feelings just born of lies, he would keep them._

_Because they were all he had._

_He wasn't sure how long she sat there, time passed oddly in this state. He wondered if Namine was even thinking about him. He almost wished she would say something. But, she probably didn't even know he could hear._

_Heck, he didn't even know why he could hear._

_I wonder… do they think I'm dead?_

_There was a shift in the air, and suddenly he couldn't feel Namine next to him._

_"Marluxia…" he muttered, blinking his eyes open. He wasn't sure how he knew Marluxia was behind this, but he knew. He pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around. Everyone was gone._

_"How… how am I even awake?" he wondered aloud. But then he shook his head, telling himself that it didn't matter. All that did mater was the fact that he WAS awake._

_Namine._

_He had to find her._

_Determination to find her was probably the only thing that was keeping him going. He got to his feet, staggered at first before he could find his balance, then headed out of the room. He had to reach the top of the Castle and he had to reach it NOW. Nothing else mattered._

_XXX_

_He paused outside the final door. He could hear voices on the other side. Marluxia, Sora, and Namine, they were arguing. He listened to them for a minute. Marluxia ordered Namine to erase Sora's memory, and she had refused. Sora then told her to just go ahead and do it, claiming he would be fine._

_Riku, no, NOT Riku, the Replica, knew he had to get in there before Sora got himself or Namine killed. He tried the door, it was locked._

_Of course._

_Marluxia laughed, informing Sora that if Namine erased his memories-_

_Thinking quickly, the Replica threw open a portal._

_-He would end up like "Vexen's pathetic imitation of your Riku"_

_That simple sentence raised a flame of anger in his heart._

_"Take another guess!" he shouted, jumping through the portal. He came out on the other side in mid-air and only had a second to calculate his move. Using gravity as his aid, he lunged forward and slashed at Marluxia, who dodged. Namine screamed._

_"It can't be!" Marluxia said as his landed._

_From behind him, Sora gasped: "Riku!"_

_"No," he said, turning only slightly so he could see Sora. "Just an imitation."_

_"You're a shell!" Marluxia shouted defiantly. "A shell who has everything taken. EVERYTHING!"_

_"What can you possibly think I ever had?" he asked angrily. "Both my body and my heart are fake. But… there is one memory I'll keep, even if it is just a lie! Whether it was a phantom promise or not… I will protect Namine!"_

_"Imbeciles" Marluxia muttered, reaching into the air. A flower petal slowly floated down from the sky, and transformed into a scythe in his hand. He slashed his scythe through the air, and held it ready at his side. "You would knowingly shackle your heart with a chain of memories born of lies?" he asked them, in disbelief._

_Sora readied his weapon._

_"You would be one who has a heart, and yet cast aside your heart's freedom?" Marluxia asked, voice rising._

_He protectively put his arm in front of Namine, keeping her out of harm's way, yet never taking his eyes off of Marluxia._

_"You turn from the truth because your heart is weak—you will never defeat me!"_


	11. My Memories, My Heart, My Mission

hmm... I guess I was wrong about the cliffhanger

_

* * *

_

Funnily enough, defeating Marluxia was a piece of cake. He disappeared in a flash of energy and flower petals. Everyone relaxed.

_"Is he gone?" Sora's friend, Donald, asked. Sora turned and gave him a thumbs up._

_"You could say that…" Marluxia's voice cam drifting into the room. They all turned in different directions, trying to locate the source of the voice. Marluxia appeared. "However, what you destroyed was merely an allusion of me."_

_Sora tensed up for an attack, but the Replica beat him to it._

_"So what?" he shouted, rushing past. He jumped into the air and brought his blade down on Marluxia, only to have him disappear in a puff of flower petals as soon as the blade hit. "Another imitation," he grimaced. Everyone rushed up behind him, and they all turned to stare at the door._

_He glared at it, feeling Marluxia's power pulse from behind it. They were talking behind him, but he was ignoring them, just focusing on the door._

_"Riku,"_

_He ignored Sora, he wasn't Riku anymore. Why would he need to go by that name?_

_"Protect Namine."_

_That got to him. His eyes widened and he turned to Sora. "You don't… mind?" he asked, slightly shocked._

_"Should I?" Sora asked with a smile._

_"All right."_

_He and Namine watched as Sora and his friends went through the door to fight Marluxia. The door closed behind him, and then they just stood in silence for a while, staring at the door. Eventually the silence became too much for him to bear._

_"You alright?" he asked a bit bluntly, turning to look at Namine. She seemed a bit taken aback by this question at first, but then she nodded._

_"Of course"_

_"Good." He turned away. "I was just a bit worried, that's all. You screamed when I jumped out of the portal."_

_"I was just shocked. I thought…" she trailed off, but she didn't need to finish. He knew what she was talking about._

_"I thought so too."_

_"Sorry…" she muttered._

_"Don't be!" he told her._

_"But I… I just got carried away. I didn't want you to hurt Sora and-"_

_Something in his heart tore with that sentence, but he pushed it aside._

_"It was the only thing I could do… I feel bad."_

_He laughed, curious why she was worried so much about this. "It's fine. I was the one who got carried away. I was just… mad at Sora, I guess."_

_A moment of silence passed._

_"You think he's alright in there?" Namine asked quietly._

_"Who, Sora?"_

_She nodded._

_"Don't worry about him. He's probably faced worse than this. Maluxia's probably begging for mercy right about now."_

_"What about you?"_

_He turned to look at her again. "What about me?" he asked skeptically._

_"Are you alright?" she clarified._

_"Yeah," he said, and then, a bit worried, added. "Why wouldn't I be?"_

_She turned away, ashamed. "Because… I crushed your memories, shattered them to pieces, broke down the wall between truth and lie. No one should be able to survive that."_

_"I guess I'm just lucky," he replied a bit roughly._

_There was more silence, during which Namine tried to piece something together. She'd start to say something, then stop and shake her head. He watched nervously, wondering what was on her mind._

_"You don't still have to protect me, you know?" she said finally, her voice barely reaching above a whisper. "You don't have to cling to these false memories anymore."_

_He shook his head. "You don't understand. I DO need to cling to them. They're all I've got. You heard what I told Marluxia. Being a…" he paused, trying to place the right word. "Copy, I never had anything in the first place. If I don't cling to these memories, what could I cling to? What would my purpose be?"_

_She looked up at him, eyes filled with sorrow, unable to answer the one question that mattered so much to him. "I don't know."_

_He turned his head._

_"But, I do know, as soon as Sora returns, Marluxia will be gone. Then there will no longer be anything to protect me from. You would have to find something else to do anyways."_

_He paused, considering that. She was right, with no more Organization members around, she would be safe._

_"Then maybe I should try and find my own self-"_

_Just then, the doors opened behind them. Sora and his friends ran out. Donald and Goofy quickly closed the door, then Sora turned on it with his Keyblade. A light beam shot out of the Keyblade's tip and hit the door, and light filled the room. Once everything cleared, the door was gone._

_"You okay, Riku?" Sora asked, turning around._

_"Not Riku," he corrected automatically. "I'm a fake. I can't remember why I was created or where or when… All that's inside of me is time with you and Namine. But I know those memories are not real."_

_"Gee, Namine," Goofy said, turning to her. "Can't you use your magic to put Riku's memory back to normal?"_

_Silence hit for a split second, as the Replica and Namine reflected on their conversation. She could remember what he had said. "Well, I-"_

_"It's alright," the Replica said, saving her from having to explain. "I'll deal." He turned and started to walk away._

_"Wait!" Sora called, and he stopped. "Who cares if someone created you? You are you and nobody else. You have your own heart inside of you. Those feelings and memories are yours, and yours alone! They're special!"_

_He paused, processing that. "Sora," he said after a moment. "You're a good guy." He turned back around to look at Sora. "I don't have to be real to see how real your feelings are." He turned away, smiling. "That's good enough."_

_That said, he walked off, ignoring Sora's persistent cries of "Riku!"_

_He wasn't Riku, not any more._

_Besides, he had a mission._

_XXX_

He opened his eyes, finding himself on the ground. Night had fallen, and all the Heartless and Dusks had disappeared. Sora and Kairi were running over. He pushed himself up, memory still fresh in his mind.

"No!" he cried, and ran off.


	12. Just a Fake

Alright, now we get a look at what the Organization is doing. I realize this chapter proposes more questions then it answers, but it should be resolved in the next chapter (which I would have included here, but the next part is so long making it two chapters was the only option)

* * *

Sora and Kairi spent a while searching for Riku. Eventually they found him in his Secret Place. He was sitting in a corner, back to them, head in his hands, still wearing his Dark Mode outfit. It seemed he didn't even notice them walk in. He was sobbing, something he would have rather not been caught doing.

"Riku…" Kairi said quietly. He immediately tried to choke down his sobs.

"Go away!" he yelled at them. "You don't want to talk to me!"

"What?" Sora asked. "Of course we want to talk to you, Riku. What would make you think we wouldn't?"

"I'M NOT RIKU!" he shouted, turning to glare at them over his shoulder. "I'm a phony! A FAKE! Just a copy of the real Riku! Everything about me is isn't mine! The way I look, everything I remember! I can't tell what's truth and lies anymore!" Angrily, he pounded his fist into the ground, and a few dark pillars shot up.

"Riku, calm down!" Kairi said.

He started to snap at her, reminding her that he wasn't Riku, but something made him pause. He took a few breaths, calming himself down, but that didn't help his fractured mind. "I'm still not Riku. Just a replica."

"What are we supposed to call you then?" Sora asked. "You want us to call you Replica or something? No matter what's going on in your mind, to us, it won't seem right. To us, you're Riku, no one else could replace you."

He turned around to look at them. "Really?" he asked

Sora nodded. "You may not be 'real' but you're _our_ Riku."

"Hmph" he turned back to the wall, pulling his knees to his chest. "That may be so, but it doesn't change the fact of what I am. It doesn't change the fact that everything I own really belongs to _him._ All but my memories, but my memories are all lies."

There was a sound of movement behind him. He turned ever so slightly to look. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kairi sit down behind him, a bit next to him. "All of them?" she asked quietly.

"Almost all of them," he grunted. "All the good memories. The only ones that are real are the fighting, and the pain, and the hate. That's what's real. I never lived a happy moment."

"Never lived a happy moment before you came here," Sora corrected, sitting down on the other side of him. "We've made a lot of happy memories in the few months you've been here, Riku."

He laughed, letting his darkness fall away. "Maybe the first week or so. But as soon as I started remembering- really _truly_ remembering, things were just confusing. Especially just now… It's hard- having to relive the feeling of finding out you're fake. It hurts." He buried his face in his hands again, attempting to keep himself from sobbing.

Kairi and Sora turned to look at each other, unsure what to tell the unstable Riku.

'Ask if he's alright' Kairi mouthed.

'Why me?' Sora replied

'Just do it!'

Sora rolled his eyes, and turned to Riku. "You okay?"

"As fine as a fake can be" he muttered.

"Drop that!" Kairi told him firmly. "You're not fake! Just because you look like someone else, or are a lot like someone else, doesn't mean anything! Even if you are a replica, you still have your own heart! And these past few months together, that wasn't fake, was it?"

"Well- no…"

"Exactly!" Sora said. "It doesn't matter where you came from, or how you got here. All that matters is that you _are_ here. You can't live life in the past. You gotta live in the now!"

"I guess you guys are right" Riku said. "But it would be nice, to know how I got here. I think I'm missing only one more memory. If I find that, then maybe it will all make sense." He stood up and walked out, a look of pure determination on his face.

Sora and Kairi watched him go, and then turned back to each other, both a bit worried.

XXX

Weeks previously…

"Zexion! You have returned."

Zexion turned to look at Lexaeus. "It appears this Riku boy does _not_ belong here." He laughed, tossing a small black stone from hand to hand. "The rock did not hit him, just like it refused to hit our other guest. It seems Vexen's hypothesis was correct."

"Speaking of Vexen, do you know where he is?" Lexaeus asked.

"He's off raiding Riku's memories, hoping to get some information" another voice replied. Axel teleported into the room. "I almost feel sorry for the poor boy, Vexen hasn't left him alone since we saw his first memory. But, then again, only a person with a heart would care."

Axel's comment got a small chuckle out of Zexion.

"I'm assuming he hasn't found anything of interest," Zexion said.

Axel shook his head. "Nothing, I'm afraid. But he only seems to have scratched the surface."

Up a few levels in the Castle…

"Hmm…" Vexen muttered, studying the screen intently. "If only we had this Namine girl… It appears she would be very useful. But I don't think obtaining her will be possible. I don't even know if she exists."

"She probably doesnt," said the other person in the room. He leaned against the wall casually, even though he seemed quite out of place. He did not wear the Organization's signature cloak, nor did he lack a heart. He wore simple jeans and a baggy T-shirt, each of which were torn. His hair was brown, and his green eyes darted around the room often, as if he was waiting for something to just jump out and attack him. He sighed and continued his explanation:

"It seems that this universe is a bit behind the other one. Namine most likely does not exist… yet. If we be patient and wait maybe she'll turn up."

Vexen turned to look at the stranger. "And how do you know so much about this?"

"You forget, I happen to come from a different universe myself." He pushed himself off the wall and crossed his arms. "If I'm correct, we shouldn't have to wait much longer than a year, and Namine will be delivered right to us."

"_If_ you're correct," Vexen said, "but the results may vary. We could end up waiting a year for nothing."

"I say we just use that Replica Program that was so successful," someone else said. Both turned to find Larxene. "We could just create ourselves a Namine, and then we wouldn't have to do any waiting."

The stranger shook his head. "I wouldn't, Larxy," he snapped. Larxene made a face at the nickname he gave her, but said nothing. "Replicas don't tend to have happy endings. I say we just wait."

Larxene scowled. "If you don't like the idea then why don't you just step in for us? If your powers are half as good as you say they are, you should have no problem!"

The stranger growled and shot himself at Larxene, having a knife at her throat in seconds. She laughed and charged up a lightning attack, but he cast the lightning aside before it hit him.

"You want to test that?" he asked threateningly. "If you honestly want me to use my powers, I'll use them on YOU and then we'll both die! I'm not going to drain my life force just so you get your way." He turned, pocketing the knife. "Just because I'm here to help doesn't mean I'll do everything you ask me too. Besides, I promised I wouldn't fall back to my old ways."

"We need to uncover more of his memories," Vexen muttered.

"Send in more Heartless," the stranger suggested, returning to leaning against the wall.


	13. Reverse Rebirth

alright, sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I spent four days with little computer time trying edit this dang thing. But, it's finally up and makes some sense.

To quick cover things up, this is the SAME NIGHT as the last chapter, just in case that wasn't clear

* * *

The sky looked as if no time had passed. And indeed, little had. Riku walked along the beach, pondering things. Most importantly, wondering how was he going to find this missing memory.

He stopped when his ears caught the sound of a sudden rush of wind. He looked around, but found nothing there. Then something hit him from behind, and he collapsed.

XXX

_He found the Real Thing outside the Mansion. He let out something of a growl, and then shouted: "Hold it!"_

_The Real Thing gasped, turning around. As soon as he noticed it was just the Replica he relaxed a bit._

_He walked forward a few paces, and then stopped. The two stood for a moment, in silence, glaring at each other. After a second he broke the silence. "Hmph. You've changed. Your own darkness- it doesn't frighten you anymore."_

_"How can you tell?" the Real Thing asked._

_"Because I'm you," the Replica replied._

_"No, I'M me"_

_"'I'm me' he says." The Replica turned to the side, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. "Must be nice, being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that." He turned back to the Real Thing. "That's right!" he said angrily. "I'm a phony, a fake! The way I look, the way I feel, everything I remember! And even- this newfound power!"_

_He summoned up the Darkness he had stolen from Zexion, letting it envelop him. The power was coursing strong through his veins and he looked at the sky, savoring the feeling. The Real Thing gasped, reminding him where he was._

_"I thought by finding some new strength, I could finally be someone!" The Darkness ebbed away slowly, but its power was still there, waiting. "Someone who is not at all you!" His voice caught in his throat. "But… nothing changes… I'm still just empty!" He looked down at himself, looking at the body he was in, reminding him, TAUNTING him, that he was just a copy. "Everything about me is borrowed. As long as you're around, I'll never be more than a shadow." He summoned his weapon, every ounce of pain and hurt he felt put into that last sentence._

_The Real Thing stared at him for a second, and then almost reluctantly summoned his own weapon._

_The battle began, and it was a fierce one. They both knew it was going to be a fight to the death, and they both subconsciously knew who was going to win. But the Replica didn't care; he put everything he had into this battle. Every stroke of the blade was intensified with all his anger, every use of darkness was tripled by his new power._

_The Real Thing attacked ruthlessly, but still a bit reluctantly. Even so, each time his blade hit it stung, each time he used darkness it hurt more than it should have. The Replica was getting beaten to pieces._

_But he refused to let that stop him. He continued to throw every ounce of his hate and sorrow and pain into each attack he dealt, hoping that maybe, just maybe he could win this. But even if he did win this, what then? He was still fake, no matter what. He couldn't just take Riku's place in the world. Sora would notice something was up._

_The Real Thing dealt a few nasty blows, leaving long gashes in his sides. The Replica angrily shot Dark Firaga, but the Real Thing just avoided it._

_What hurt him most about this battle, besides knowing the fact that he would most likely lose, was the fact the Real Thing was almost reluctant about fighting. He would attack as hard as he would any other day, but his eyes were filled with a bit of sorrow._

_'I don't need his sympathy!' The Replica thought angrily, throwing every ounce of that rage into his next attack. The Real Thing blocked it easily, and attacked twice as hard. The attack hit the Replica's wrist, and he backed up in pain._

_It was over, any second now…_

_'One last attack,' he told himself, charging up Dark Aura. He shot across the field, blade in front of him, teleporting from one end to the next, constantly trying to hit the Real Thing. It seemed to do quite a bit of damage. But then he drove his blade into the ground, causing the pillars of darkness to rise around him, a wave of pain shot up his arm. He gasped and cradled his wrist for a second._

_The Real Thing stood there, watching him._

_He growled, and mustering up the last of his energy, charged._

_The Real Thing attacked, hitting him in the stomach. The force of the blow knocked him off his feet, and he landed hard on his back. Every part of him hurt like heck. He was beaten, he was fading._

"_So… it's over," he said as he stared up into the sky. It was hard to get words out, but somehow he managed. "Hmph. Death doesn't frighten me. Good riddance to a phony life." He sighed. "My heart was… never real. I'm sure even what I'm feeling now is probably all fake."_

_The Real Thing walked over slowly. "What are you feeling?" he asked._

_The Replica took a second to consider this question, and then he turned to look at the real Riku. "What happens when a fake dies – one like me?" he asked instead of answering. "Where will my heart go?" He looked back up at the sky, watching as his essence floated away. "Does it disappear?"_

"_It'll go somewhere," Riku assured him. "Maybe to the same place as mine."_

_The Replica laughed. "A faithful replica until the very end." His sorrow returned quickly, "that's… okay."_

_Those being his last words, he faded away into darkness…_

_XXX_

_If this was death, then why wasn't he dead?_

"_No, you're dead, no need to worry about that," a voice said. He instantly panicked and attempted to sit up, but immediately found himself pushed back down. "Don't move!" the voice said, sounding a bit annoyed. "I can't keep you in stasis if you start moving around."_

"_Who are you?" he asked, struggling a bit to get the words out. He opened his eyes but then immediately shut them. The darkness provided by his closed eyes was definitely preferable in comparison to the blinding whiteness that surrounded him._

"_Sorry, I should have warned you. Do you want me to dim the lighting?"_

"_Sure," he said. After waiting for a second he opened his eyes. It was now a gray color around him. He took a look around and found a person older than him standing there. They looked just as tired as he felt, green eyes struggling to stay open, and brown hair a bit ragged._

"_If talking's too much for you," the person said, "you can just go ahead and think what you have to say. I'll hear you."_

"_I'll manage." He frowned at this person. "You still haven't told me who you are, or what you're doing."_

"_It doesn't matter who I am. I'm keeping you alive."_

"_What for?"_

"_I'm going to give you a second chance."_

_He started to ask how this person was planning on doing such a thing, but they beat him to it with an explanation._

"_You see, there are millions of alternate universes out there, probably quite a few without a Riku in them. If you want, I can take you to one of those universes and you can start a new life for yourself without having to live in the shadow of somebody."_

_He smiled slightly at the thought of this. "That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea, only one problem. How am I supposed to start anew with the memories I have?"_

"_I can block all of your memories, so you can really start fresh. You won't remember anything, and therefore not be plagued by your past. The choice is yours, though, you can accept this offer and start a whole new life, or I can take the stasis off of you, block this entire conversation from you mind, and let you die."_

"_What's in this for you?" he asked skeptically after a minute of thinking._

"_Nothing, really, I just thought I'd try doing something good with my powers for once…" He paused and scratched his head. "That's beside the point though. So, uhh, you gonna choose?"_

"_I accept."_

_Those words said, he suddenly felt a jolt of energy go through his body. His heart started beating again, sending white hot pain through his veins as blood returned to his wounds. Most of his major injuries were healed enough not to be fatal, but not enough for them to stop hurting. He didn't catch much of what happened after that, though._

_"Not like I'll remember this anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter…"_

_XXX_

_He made his way to the shore slowly; he hurt too much to move quickly. Once he was on dry land, water only lapping at his feet, he paused and took a moment to cough up the water that had filled his lungs._

_'How did I get here?' he thought, truly confused. He didn't remember a thing._

_He started to push himself to his feet, only to be overcome by another fit of coughing._

_"Are you alright?" someone called, and he looked up. Running towards him was a girl, probably about his age, with red hair and blue eyes. She knelt in front of him and looked at him expectantly._

_"Yeah, I'm alright" he said-_

_XXX_

Riku opened his eyes in shock, and immediately found himself on cold hard ground that felt nothing like the beach. He pushed himself into a sitting position with some difficulty, for his body felt as if he had the same wounds he had received in the battle that had taken place months ago.

He took a second to consider this memory, and absent-mindedly rubbed his wrist even though there was nothing wrong with it. Things were starting to come together in his mind. The answer to just about every question he could ask was simple: he came from a universe parallel to this one. Sora didn't remember him because they had never met. The Sora _he_ knew was in a different universe.

Wondering exactly where he was _now_, Riku took a look around. There was nothing but never-ending whiteness.

"Sorry," said a nervous voice from behind him. Riku turned around and shot to his feet, ready to pull out his weapon and attack at a moment's notice. He relaxed instantly though when he recognized the person there as a friend. It was the same stranger that had helped him out.

The stranger laughed. "I didn't know remembering that would have been so painful for you. You okay?"

"Yeah," Riku replied, a bit stiffly. Even if this stranger was helpful, not knowing who he was or what his intentions were bothered him a bit.

"Sorry the plan didn't work out too well, I told the Organization not to follow through with their plans, but they didn't listen."

Red flags flared up in Riku's mind. Anyone with the Organization wasn't good news. He tensed immediately, ready to attack again.

"Don't worry," the stranger laughed. "I ditched those idiots as soon as they insisted I be more helpful to them. I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I hightailed out of here. I feel bad for not being able to stop Vexen when he started raiding your memories. I'm short of power supply, any rash use of my power would end in instant death."

Riku nodded. It made perfect sense.

"I should be sending you back home now shouldn't I?" the stranger asked.

"Wait," Riku said, something immediately coming to his mind. "I need to ask you something. I was wondering, about that rock, that uhh…" he paused, trying to see if he could remember any names. "Zexion threw at me. When he said I didn't belong here. I get why, but I don't get what the rock had to do with it."

"The rock is kind of like a magnet. It is only attracted to something that comes from the same universe it does. If there is an object, or a person, that doesn't belong in the universe, it will repel and refuse to make contact."

Riku processed this information. It made little sense.

He decided it didn't matter.

What did matter was that he got back to the islands.

And within the amount of time he took to blink, he _was_ back on the islands.


	14. Departure

Riku stood on the shore, staring out at the horizon and watching as the sun started to rise. His eyes would droop occasionally due to lack of sleep, but he was too determined to get his job done to sleep. He wasn't even all that tired, even if his body was screaming defiantly against that statement.

"Riku!" Sora called. He turned ever so slightly and saw Sora and Kairi standing there. He turned back to the horizon.

"I figured it out." He stated plainly. "I come from another universe, it seems. A universe almost exactly like this one, but that universe has another Riku in it. He's the one I'm a copy of." He sighed. "I- I also have some unfinished business I need to take care of."

"But why do you have to leave?" Kairi asked. "If you're _here_, and the other Riku's _there, _then you don't need to worry about him, right?"

Riku laughed and shook his head. "It's not him I'm worried about. It's the Organization."

"Organization XIII" Sora said, acting as if he understood. That moment passed when he asked: "Who are they?"

"They're a group of Nobodies, beings without hearts. They are what is left behind when someone is turned into a Heartless. They are unable to feel or care about anything. They'll use whatever, or whoever, they can to get what they want. They already have my memories, they could wreak tons of havoc throughout the worlds with that knowledge. I need to stop them before they do too much damage."

"Why do _you_ need to do this?" Sora asked

"I thought it was clear. They have _my_ memories. That kind of makes me responsible."

"You don't have to do this alone!"

Riku clenched his fists, and took a second to calm himself so he wouldn't hurt Sora. He was always so stubborn. It seemed nothing had changed from his old life to now, except the fact Sora was a bit more clueless. "You can't come."

"But-"

"Sora!" Riku shouted, turning. "You don't know anything about fighting. You'd be beaten to a pulp within two seconds if you were to go up against an Organization member. You need to stay here, out of danger."

"Why are you trying so hard to protect us?" Sora asked angrily.

"Because!" Riku yelled, and then turned away, taking a breath and biting back tears. "Because I don't have anyone else. Namine doesn't exist in this universe, so I can't protect her. I have to protect someone. It would make me feel better if I knew the two of you were safe."

They stood there in silence for a minute. Riku was desperately wishing he hadn't made that outburst, and Sora was thinking hard. Kairi stood between the two of them, unsure of what to do about the situation.

Sora started to protest again, but Kairi stepped in before he could say anything. "Sora. He needs to do this." Sora started to say something again, but Kairi shook her head. "Alone."

"Alright" Sora muttered. "Good luck!"

Riku nodded. Sora and Kairi ran off.

Riku turned back to ocean and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and listened to the sound of the waves. He savored this moment, for he knew there was a possibility he would never return to the Islands. He wondered briefly how much Sora and Kairi would miss him, but then shook his head and focused on his mission. Smiling slightly, he opened up a portal.

"Wait!" someone called, and then something hit him in the back of the head.

"Ow!" he muttered, rubbing his head. He turned around, and found Kairi standing there. "What was that for?" he asked. She smiled and gestured to what was laying on the ground. It was a small black rock on a red string.

Curious, he knelt down and picked it up. He did a double take when he realized what kind of rock this was. It was one of those rocks that shouldn't have been able to hit him. "It hit me…" he muttered, then looked up. "It hit me!"

Kairi laughed. "I thought you would appreciate it. Sorry it took me so long to get it to you though, I didn't want to ask Sora for help. I wasn't sure what he would think if he found out I was making it for you…" she trailed off and giggled. "But it's something to remind you that you belong here."

He started to protest, but she stopped him. "Don't say it!" she told him firmly. "I know what you've been thinking. Like I said when we first met, our hearts are connected. Yours, Sora's and mine. It doesn't matter where you came from; this is where you belong _now_. The rock hitting you just proves it."

"How did you know that it didn't hit me because I didn't belong?" Riku asked, clenching his fist around the rock. He looked up at Kairi, who smiled.

"I just had a feeling that was the reason."

Riku laughed and got to his feet. "Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," Kairi replied. Riku smiled and pocketed the rock before turning towards the portal. "Be careful!" she called.

"I will," he replied, stepping through.


	15. Castle Oblivion

hey look! another chapter. Appologies if Organization members aren't portrayed all that well. I think I've done okay, but they're harder to write for than you think. also, I realize the battle scene is a BIT short, but I had like nothing to work with

* * *

He emerged in the white halls of Castle Oblivion. It appeared he had arrived on a lower floor, because no one was around. To be safe, he enveloped himself in Darkness, just so he had the power on hand if he needed it.

Funnily enough, this almost felt… natural.

Standing here, in these halls.

He had to remind himself that this wasn't his home, even if it felt like it. He no longer wanted anything to do with the Organization, considering what they had done. All these halls reminded him of now was how he had been treated.

His fists clenched in rage and he summoned his weapon. "WHERE ARE YOU!" he shouted. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

No one showed up.

Angrily, with mind filled with thoughts of revenge, Riku made his way up to the top of the Castle.

XXX

Zexion gasped. "Impossible," he muttered quietly. A portal opened up beside him, and he backed up a few feet on impulse. It was only Axel that appeared.

"Whoa! Zexion, you seem uneasy. What gives?"

"Riku," Zexion replied. "He has found us."

Axel laughed. "No worries!" He summoned his chakrams and twirled them playfully. "I don't think he'll be that hard to deal with."

"I wouldn't be to certain about that if I were you, Axel," a voice said, and the two Organization members turned. Leaning against the wall was the stranger. "After all, he has quite a fight to pick with you guys. I don't think it matters to him that he's in a different universe, he can't be happy about what happened to him."

"What about you?" Zexion asked. "Won't he try and take you down as soon as he finds out you're with us?"

The stranger laughed and shook his head. "Trust me; he won't even notice I'm here."

"Let's just hope Vexen will be able to get this under control," Zexion said, turning away from the stranger. "His plan does sound like it will work. He just needs to finish in time."

The stranger shook his head in disappointment and he disappeared in a rush of cold wind.

XXX

Marluxia entered the room, causing Larxene to turn. Vexen didn't move from his computer. "Riku has entered the Castle. Zexion just sent word up," Marluxia said. "Vexen, how goes your plan?"

Vexen shook his head. "It could be ready now if we need it, but if you want it to be perfect we're going to need more time. I have little to work with, I'm amazed I got as far as I have."

Marluxia nodded. "Larxene, can you stall him?"

"Finally! Something to do!" She laughed and then left.

XXX

"Oh look, it seems we have an intruder in the Castle." Riku tensed as soon as he heard the voice, and he summoned his weapon without second thought. Larxene appeared across the room from him. "I wonder if he'll be a good boy."

"Larxene!" he growled angrily, but refrained from attacking. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you now."

"What have I ever done to you?" Larxene asked innocently.

He grunted. Theoretically, SHE had done nothing. It was Larxene from the other universe that had. But even so, he couldn't look at her without his blood starting to boil. Out of all the Organization members, she was the one that had hurt him the most.

She laughed suddenly. "Oh right! I forgot that you have a… complicated past. If I recall correctly, I wasn't very nice to you, now was I?"

"Shut it!" he shouted, she seemed taken aback for a second but then smiled. "You would have done the same no matter what! You're no different!"

"You've only known me ten seconds!" she said. "How can you know what I would have done?"

"Time doesn't matter," he said, relaxing a bit. He had the upper-hand in Larxene's word game. He knew more about her than she could possibly know about him "I can see it, burning in your eyes, that same love for other's pain."

"I assure you, I'm nothing like that!"

Riku snorted. It was so easy to tell that she was lying. "Prove it!" he yelled, charging.

Larxene gasped, and jumped back out of range of his weapon. "Fine!" she snapped. "If you want to fight that bad-" she punched at Riku, who back-flipped out of the way. "Then let's fight!"

Riku laughed and raised his blade, while Larxene pulled out her knives. He charged first, landing a nice combo on her before she even knew what was going on. He grinned, and she scowled.

"Lightning!" Larxene yelled, and bolts of lightning came down from the ceiling. Riku dodged most of them with ease, and even when the last one hit him he acted like nothing had happened. He charged up Dark Firaga and shot it at Larxene, who was caught full on with the blow.

She teleported very quickly though, and reappeared right next to him, managing to land a punch on him before he backed up.

"You're just mean, you know that?" she shouted, throwing another punch, which he dodged. "You can't even have a nice conversation with anyone for more than a minute before attacking!" Throughout this sentence she continued with a volley of quick jabs, most of which he avoided.

"And you're not?" he replied, slashing hard with his blade and then pulled Helm Split on her. He jumped into the air and then brought his blade crashing down, causing pillars of darkness to rise around him. He could almost laugh as he watched Larxene attempt to avoid them in vain.

Larxene threw her knives at him, which Riku dodged easily. He retaliated with a few quick slashes of his blade, most of which hit their target. She threw a few quick jabs at him, which hit quite hard. Again, he attacked with quick slashes of his blade, and then Larxene kicked him hard.

Staggering back, he charged up Dark Aura. He shot across the field, blade in front of him, teleporting from one end to the next, hitting Larxene as hard as he could as he passed. She was unable to avoid his attack at all. He finished the move off by driving his blade in the ground, pillars of darkness rising around him.

He got the pain he dealt back when Larxene unleashed her next attack. She jumped in to the air, cackled manically, and then threw her knives into the ground. Lightning followed them, and then a large wall of lightning made its way towards him.

It was impossible to avoid. He lay on the ground for a second as lightning cackled around his body, trying to regain his strength. He could hear her footsteps on the ground, and could only assume she was heading towards him.

Panicked, Riku sat up and shot a ball of Dark Firaga before he even knew what he was doing. Larxene let out a scream of pain. He looked up, almost shocked, as he realized what he had down without thinking. Larxene was slowly getting to her feet.

"You have no heart!" she shouted angrily.

"Like you're any better!" he replied, just as angry.

"Ha! But having no heart is better than having a heart of stone!"

"At least I have a heart!"

Larxene threw her knives at him, which he blocked easily. Only one managed to get past and it grazed past his shoulder. He let out a small gasp of pain, but made a hard attempt not to show it. He charged and then slashed his blade at her.

"Impossible!" she gasped, falling to her knees. "How could I lose to someone like you! You're nothing! You have nothing! How-" she paused, realization dawning on her face. "I'm fading! NO! I can't be fading!" Her essence was already disappearing though. "I just can't be! It can't be over!"

He lowered his blade, glaring at her. "Face it, Larxene, you can't stop yourself from dying."

She looked up at him, look of hatred on her face. "You! YOU DID THIS!"

"How do you think I feel about you?" he replied, but received no answer, for Larxene was already gone.


	16. Fighting the Flames

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. It's been busy. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, even though I don't feel like I'm portraying Axel quite well... I don't know, probably just over reacting...

* * *

"Riku's going to be more of a problem then we thought," Axel informed Marluxia, teleporting into the room. Marluxia turned, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Really now?" Marluxia asked. "And what makes you say that?"

"He just killed Larxene."

Silence filled the room.

After a while Marluxia turned to Vexen, who remained at his computer, typing slowly. "Perfection no longer seems to be an option, how much longer until it is ready?"

Vexen sighed and stopped typing, lowering his head. "I need more time. If I leave the process hanging where it is we'll end up with more problems than we need. If you give me just enough time to clear up some things up-"

Marluxia stopped him before he could finish. "Axel, do you think you could buy us the time we need?"

"No problem!" Axel said, teleporting away.

XXX

There was a sudden whooshing noise behind him, and Riku turned, just in time to dodge out of the way of Axel's chakrams. They flew past him and then boomeranged back to their owner. Axel caught them with ease and cracked a smile.

"What do you want?" Riku asked, a bit annoyed. There wasn't much about Axel that he had a grudge against, and he had honestly been hoping they wouldn't run into each other. But, no matter what, Axel was still part of the Organization, and it would probably be better if he was gone.

"Not even going to bother to introduce yourself?" Axel asked.

"Do I need to?"

Axel shrugged. "I don't know, do you? I think we might as well anyways. My name's Axel, got it memorized?"

"Yeah" Riku replied gruffly. "I'm Riku."

"Good, now that we know each other-" Axel paused, and with a wave of his hand fire rose around the walls of the room. Riku tensed immediately, ready to attack. "Let's try not to kill anyone."

"Like I'd lose to you!" Riku replied, and the fight began.

XXX

"Axel seems to be doing alright," Vexen commented, watching the battle on one of the screens of his computer. The stranger watched from over his shoulder, and they both winced as Axel took a heavy blow from Riku's blade. "Maybe I spoke to soon…"

"I don't know, I doubt either one of them is likely to kill the other. Riku's not nearly mad enough at Axel to murder him." They watched as Axel sent a volley of flames Riku's way in mild amusement. "Anyways," the stranger pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Vexen. "Here, I gathered a bit of data from the Namine in the other universe. This might be able to clear things up a bit. You'll have to sort through the data though, I'm not sure how well it traveled the border between universes."

"Noted." Vexen said, starting to type on the keyboard. "I'll deal with this right now."

The stranger nodded. Axel's and Riku's fight caught his attention as Axel shouted "Burn baby!" and sent a volley of flames Riku's way. The stranger laughed as Vexen just shook his head.

XXX

Riku rolled out of the way of the flames, and then shot Dark Firaga at Axel, who blocked it with his chakrams. He laughed, surrounding his weapons with flame and then throwing them at Riku. He dodged them the first time, but they looped around and hit him again, causing him to fall to the ground.

He groaned, then stood up quickly and slashed at Axel, pulling a nice combo before Axel jumped off and hid in the flames. Riku looked around frantically, trying to predict where Axel would pop out next. "Stop hiding!" Riku shouted, annoyed, and Axel flew out of the flames and made a swipe at him with his chakrams. Riku back-flipped out of the way.

Axel brought up a pillar of fire to get Riku, only he quickly charged up Dark Aura and attacked Axel like crazy. He laughed, listening to Axel's moans of pain. After he landed though, Axel knocked him back into the wall of flame.

"It's not over yet!" Axel shouted, hitting him quite a few times with his chakrams.

Riku portalled himself out of the flames and to the other side of the room. He performed Helm Split quickly, attacking Axel with pillars of darkness. He shot Dark Firaga again shortly after that, and then followed up with a few quick slashes of his blade.

Axel portalled himself away and then tossed his chakrams at Riku. Riku blocked them with his blade, and then they flew back to their owner. Axel caught them quickly and then jumped back into the flames.

"Cut it out!" Riku shouted, shaking his fist. Axel popped out of the flames again and landed, causing a ring of fire to shoot out. Riku backed up quickly and then pulled Helm Split again, while Axel retaliated with many fire attacks. The room was filled with much darkness and fire as the two went all out in attacking each other.

Riku rushed forward and slashed Axel, and then Axel teleported to the side and attacked from behind. Riku charged up Dark Aura again, and did quite a bit of damage. When he finished off the attack, Axel happened to be standing right next to him, and was caught by the dark pillars.

Axel attacked with a large wall of flame, which threw Riku back into the wall of fire. Riku jumped out as soon as he could and threw Dark Firaga at Axel. Then he rushed forward and unleashed a fierce combo. Axel staggered back, and stood there, breathing heavily, as the walls of fire slowly dwindled down.

Riku doubled over also, for the battle had worn him out also. His clothes were singed and he hurt all over. His Dark Mode practically fell off of him; he was too exhausted to keep it going any longer.

"You're much better than I thought you were," Axel commented. Riku let out a small laugh, but he was too tired to truly appreciate the comment.

"You're not too bad yourself," he replied

Axel nodded, and the two spent a few moments in silence, each trying to regain their strength.

"At first," Axel said suddenly, "I thought our plans to help you were just a waste of time… but now, maybe doing this favor for you isn't such a bad idea."

Riku looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Did Larxene never tell you?" Axel asked, "I thought for certain she would have used it as the upper hand against you."

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, straightening up and clenching his fists.

"You think I'd tell you?" Axel laughed. "Not a chance! No way am I going to kill the suspense this early. If Larxene hasn't already ruined the fun, then why should I?" He opened up a portal behind him and started backing into it. "Just head up another level or so, I'm sure you'll found out soon enough."

"Get back here!" Riku shouted, but Axel had already left.


	17. The Plans

sorry it took so long to get this up. I realized if what I had just updated what I originally had I would have confused the crap out of you. hopefully this makes more sense  
also, forgot to mention, Vexen's computer is a lot like DiZ's computer from Kingdom Hearts 2, with the multiple screens and keyboards. It has many uses, such as acting as a security camera for Castle Oblivion, observing data, and creating replicas.  
along with that, these three scenes take place pretty much simultaniously

* * *

"No need to worry about time" Vexen said before Marluxia could get the words out. "That treacherous Zexion is stalling for us. Even if he doesn't want to be helpful he's doing a terrible job at it." He never stopped once from typing on his computer.

"Oh is he now?"Marluxia seemed amused. "What does he hope to accomplish?"

"His intentions are to get Riku to leave the Castle" Vexen replied.

"And he thinks this is going to do anything? I thought it was an obvious fact that Riku's determination cannot be deterred. All he's asking for is death. I almost wonder what has gotten into him."

"Who knows?" Axel asked, teleporting in. "I thought he'd be all over this plan. Pity he isn't, we could use a mind like his."

"Are you saying I'm not good enough?" Vexen asked, turning to glare at Axel.

"What? No way! I'm just saying we could use all the help we could get. That stranger doesn't seem to be all that helpful."

"Speaking of the stranger," Marluxia said "has he been cooperating?"

"He retrieved the data I asked for" Vexen replied, returning to his continuous typing.

"Hmm…" Marluxia took this into consideration. "What is HE planning, anyways? He keeps telling us that our plan is going to fail, and yet has done nothing to try and stop us."

"Maybe he's using Zexion" Axel suggested.

"I don't think so. Zexion is acting of his own free will. It's entirely possible that Riku's memories have bothered him. He probably has good reason to fear that Marluxia plans to betray the Organization."

"What makes you say that?" Marluxia asked slowly.

Vexen didn't answer.

"I assume Vexen means that observations made from Riku's memories have merely unnerved Zexion and caused him to think such things" Axel said.

"Of course," Marluxia muttered.

"Axel, why don't you go and make sure Zexion does not mess things up?" Vexen said. Axel sighed and teleported off.

"What did you send him off for?" Marluxia asked

"I wanted to ask you something"

"Oh?"

Vexen sighed.

A tense silence passed, filled only with Vexen's continuous keystrokes.

Then; "Do you think our plan is going to work?" Vexen asked. His typing paused, and he turned to look at Marluxia. "What do YOUthink we'll accomplish by creating this replica of Namine?"

"It's a fair enough question," Vexen added when Marluxia didn't respond, "considering I'm slaving away to create this for you."

"I suppose it is a fair question."

"So…?"

Marluxia paused. Then he said; "Riku would be a useful asset to the Organization…"

"You plan on using Namine to enslave him, then?"

"Something like that"

Vexen returned to the computer. "Alright then, I just need to finish sorting this data, and then apply it, and we should be able to set this plan in motion."

"Good."

XXX

_Good, cleared that up…_ the stranger thought. _Hopefully this will solve the problem. I don't know though… I should probably go see her just to make sure._ He sighed, and then teleported as quietly as possible into the room.

She sat quietly on the cot, knees hugged tightly to her chest. The stranger took a second to consider what he was going to say. He didn't have long until Vexen finished sorting the data he had collected, and he had to get this out NOW.

"Hey," he said finally. She looked up at him. His stomach churned slightly, for he felt guilty that had had brought this imperfect replica of Namine into existence. If it wasn't for his meddling, she wouldn't be suffering this.

_I need to stop blaming myself for everything…_ he told himself angrily, but pushed the thought aside and continued with the task at hand.

"Listen, I'm sorry about this. I warned them not to do it but…" he sighed. "I tried, I honestly did try to stop them. They wouldn't listen."

She looked up at him, and he turned away. He couldn't look at that face without being tormented by his own past.

"I did try and help though," he said quietly. "Hopefully it won't make things more confusing."

She nodded.

He frowned, unsure of what to say next. He had apologized for all the pain and confusion this process was causing her, even if it wasn't his fault. But, that still left him a bit curious about one thing…

"Close your eyes" he said, and she did so. "What do you see?"

"Well…" she started, but paused.

"Here, why don't you draw it?" He held out a piece of paper and a pencil. She stared at him for a minute, and then took the paper and pencil from him. She sat for a second, looking at the blank sheet with a thoughtful look, then started to draw.

He watched her with mild curiosity. He had a feeling he already knew what she was going to end up drawing though, and couldn't help but smile when he proved to be correct. The picture was much like a child's scribble, but it was easily recognizable.

It was Riku.

"Do you know who he is?" the stranger asked, startling her. Sadness crossed her face and she shook her head. He started to explain, but her attention had gone back to the paper, where she was writing something down. When she had finished she stood up and held the paper out to the stranger.

"Can- Can you get it to him?" she asked.

He nodded and reached out to grab it, only to have the door fly open. They both turned, and Namine instantly hid the paper behind her back.

_He had to pick NOW to show up,_ the stranger thought angrily, staring at Vexen, who was standing in the doorway. Namine slowly crumpled the paper into a ball and clutched it tightly in one hand. The stranger disappeared quickly and reappeared in an empty room of the castle.

He had only caught a glimpse of what she had written, but the point was clear. Because of where she came from, and what data she was based on, she kept dreaming of Riku, and it was confusing her. And all she wanted to know is who he was, and if he was of any importance to her.

The stranger sighed. "If only Vexen hadn't interrupted so soon…" he muttered. "I could have been able to clear some things up." He immediately scolded himself for thinking this though. "I, of all people, should know better than to mess with this! Namine knows nothing! Anything I said could have planted an idea in her head. I need to let her find her own path, not follow one that's been set for her."

He leaned against the wall. "I do need to warn Riku though. There's a lot that could happen if he isn't careful about what he says. I'll have to talk to him. Later though, I need to wait until a better time.

"I also need to stop talking to myself…"

XXX

"I think it would be best if you didn't continue." Zexion said. Riku glared at him. He was still drained from his last battle, and had a feeling that Dark Mode wouldn't be an option this time around. Hopefully, fighting would be minimal or none at all, but he could only hope.

"Why not?" he asked warily.

"It doesn't matter! You just need to leave!"

"I won't even consider leaving until you give me a good reason of why I should do so" Riku retorted.

"Is your freedom reason enough?" Zexion replied. "They'll enslave you if you continue! You'll become Marluxia's pawn!"

"Like I'd let that happen!" Riku snapped. "I'm no longer bound by the Organization. They can't control me!"

"But aren't you still bound by an old promise?"

"What-" Riku stared in shock. He couldn't possibly mean… "What do you mean by that? What are you talking about!"

"Do you not remember?" Zexion seemed appalled. "The promise you _swore_ you'd keep, no matter what. Are you telling me that it no longer matters to you?"

He took a second to think, then realized what Zexion was getting at. "Namine…" Riku whispered. "Of course it still matters!"

"Then leave! If you stay they'll use that promise against you!"

Riku paused, then summoned his blade. Zexion stared at him in disbelief. "You'd rather fight me, when I'm doing you a favor by warning you of their plot? You don't even have any strength left, how do you expect to win?"

"It doesn't matter. If you're trying to tell me that Namine's here, and then expect me to leave, you're insane. I can't abandon her!"

"That's what I've been trying to warn you about! Your devotion to this promise will be your downfall!" Zexion summoned his book and opened it, running a finger down the page until he found what he was looking for. "But if it's a fight you want-" he paused, then looked up and grinned. "Then it's a fight you shall get!"


	18. Master of Illusion

whoa! an update one day after the last one? well, I took a sick day off of school and started writing (no, I did not stay home from school TO write), and this is what I got. so uhh, cool, right?

* * *

A blinding light filled the room, and as soon as it cleared Riku was shocked to find another Riku standing in front of him. He glared, confused. Something wasn't right…

"Hey fake" the other Riku laughed. "You want a rematch? Or are you just too scared to fight?"

"Why would I be afraid of you?" he replied. He was unsure of what was going on, but maybe he could use some of the old tricks… "You're just a wimp who's afraid of the dark!"

"And you're exactly like me!"

He laughed and shook his head. "You're wrong. We may share the same looks, and even the same talents, but I am SO different. We each have our own struggles, our own problems, and our own feelings. I've learned that it doesn't matter that I'm like you, because I'm ME and no one else."

The other Riku leaned back and formed up a ball of Dark Firaga and shot it at Riku. He laughed and blocked it with his blade, throwing it back. The other Riku gasped as he was hit by his own spell and fell over.

The other Riku's form shifted. Riku smirked.

"I had a feeling it was you, Zexion" he said. Zexion gasped and pushed himself into an upright position.

"Hmm… you're quick to see through my illusion… I must try a new tactic-" Zexion muttered, before disappearing.

"Hey, Riku," Sora's voice was unmistakable, and yet he shouldn't have been here either. Riku frowned. It was most likely Zexion again, trying to fool him. If it was, he was doing a terrible job at it.

"I thought I told you to stay home," Riku said angrily. He'd play with Zexion's illusion for the moment.

"I've got to protect Namine!" Sora replied.

Riku shook his head and turned. "Stop playing these games Zexion. I thought it was clear; my past does not bother me. These tricks aren't doing you any good."

Sora's form shifted back to Zexion. "But that's impossible! You used to hate being a replica, and your past drove you nuts!"

"Not anymore! I've moved on."

"Well, we'll just see about that!" Blinding light filled the room once again. Riku looked around, wondering what illusion could possibly come next. He did a double take though when he saw her.

"Namine?" he whispered

She turned slowly, looking a bit scared. She brightened instantly when she saw him. "Riku!" she said, grinning. He kept staring. This could easily be another illusion- "You came!" the doubt of this moment was blown out of his mind.

"Of course I did" he said, smiling. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Zexion said-"

"Zexion?" Riku frowned, and doubt crept into his mind again. Where had Zexion gone anyways? They were talking only a moment ago, he probably didn't just run off. Something definitely wasn't right here…

"Is something wrong?" Namine asked

"No," he replied. Something at the back of his mind nagged at him but he pushed it aside.

"Good, I'm glad you're here"

"Me too." He reached out and grabbed her hand. "You wouldn't believe what I went through to make it here." He laughed, just thinking about it. There had been that fight with Axel, and that battle had left him tired. He was still tired, but not nearly as much as he had been. It was a good thing he didn't fight Zexion.

He gasped suddenly and turned around, dropping her hand. He looked, but Zexion was nowhere in sight.

"Riku, are you sure everything's okay?" Namine asked.

"Yeah," he replied slowly, turning back around. "Just a bit jumpy." It was almost as if his mouth had a mind of its own. "I fought with Axel just before coming here."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-" he stopped, as Namine flickered and disappeared. His fists clenched and rage flooded through him. How could he have fallen for this? "Show yourself coward!" he shouted.

Zexion appeared, at first with a slightly scared look on his face. It was replaced by one of satisfaction. Riku rushed towards him, and the satisfied look changed to one of shock as Riku attacked.

"If it hadn't been for Axel's needless meddling that illusion would have fooled you!" Zexion shouted.

"What does Axel have to do with this?" Riku asked, throwing Dark Firaga at Zexion. He followed up with a few quick slashes. Zexion staggered back and stared at Riku in shock. It was insane! All this fuss over a stupid promise.

But Zexion had proved one thing. Riku would do anything for Namine. And that's why it was so important that he got him out of the Castle. It would be easy for Marluxia to convince Riku into joining him, and once that happened he'd be unstoppable.

Riku turned and started to leave.

"Wait!" Zexion called, "You do not know the trap they have ahead for you! You can't continue!"

"Shut up!" Riku yelled, tired of Zexion's protests. It was getting annoying. This should have been clear. Fatigue threatened to overcome him, but he ignored it and mustered up enough strength to shoot Dark Firaga one more time.

"NO!" Zexion screamed, fading away.

Someone started clapping. Riku turned, and found Axel.

"What are you doing here?" Riku asked

"Nothing really, just trying to stop Zexion before he said too much. Luckily enough, you did my job for me."

Riku scowled, then realized something. "Hang on, does that mean Namine _is_ here?"

"If I answered that," Axel said, "then I'd be saying too much." He disappeared.

Riku glared at the spot where Axel just stood. The adrenaline that had been fueling him was fading away, and his breathing was growing heavy. He only managed to remain standing for a few more seconds before collapsing.

His strength had officially run out. His breath was all shaky, and he hurt all over. He struggled just to get air into his lungs. He was tired too, exhausted, in fact. He couldn't even remember the last time he had slept.

He vowed he would continue, but AFTER his strength returned.


	19. The Chilly Academic

sorry it took so long to get this up! I was swamped with schoolwork, and spent more time than i should have making music videos. If you want to check some of them out, my username on youtube is isneezelightning. I've made a few Kingdom Hearts music videos.

anyways, here's the chapter

* * *

"Not bad Axel-" Vexen laughed.

Axel shook his head. "You kidding me? Riku did all the work. He killed Zexion before I could even think of doing anything."

"I meant causing Zexion's concentration to falter so Riku could break though his illusion," Vexen said.

"Oh," Axel merely shrugged. "He would have managed without my help. I merely sped up the process. Pity though, Zexion would have helped us a lot, it's almost a shame he was killed. If only he hadn't betrayed us… But, on the bright side, he did prove one thing."

"And that would be?"

"Namine. Riku would do anything for her. This plan may work after all"

"You had doubts?" Vexen raised his eyebrows.

"We've seen what happened in that other universe," Axel said. "The Organization there tried nearly the exact same thing, and they failed."

"But this is different," Vexen pointed out. "They were playing off of false memories. For us, Riku already had feelings for Namine, we do not need to give him any. We don't need to do anything more than somehow convince him to join us."

"What does he want anyways," Axel asked, then added: "besides us dead?"

"He wants to see Namine, doesn't he?"

The two Organization members stood quietly, each thinking…

XXX

"Ah, Riku, we meet at last."

Riku glared, pulling out his blade. "Vexen!" he spat angrily. "What do you want?"

"So quick to anger are you? Imagine, what would you say if you knew of the immense favor I've done for you?"

Riku lowered his blade slightly and looked at Vexen with confusion. What in the worlds could he be talking about? He took a second to think about it, and then gasped. He couldn't possibly mean- "Wait, I thought Zexion was just joking."

"Joking!" Vexen laughed, "of course-" he paused suddenly. "Hang on, what EXACTLY did he tell you?"

"Nothing, really" Riku said. "He _implied_ that Namine was here…"

Vexen made a face. "Why that little-" he trailed off into incomprehensible muttering. Riku raised his eyebrows and waited for Vexen to continue. Something was different about Vexen, his personality was… not the way he remembered.

_Parallel universe,_ Riku reminded himself._ Not everything has to be as I remember it._

"Zexion wasn't joking?" Riku asked, stopping Vexen in the middle of what sounded like an insult. Vexen turned back to Riku.

"You are half correct" Vexen replied.

"Namine is here?" Riku did his best to keep any excitement out of his voice. That thought had been nagging at him for a while. This was a parallel universe, so the possibilities were a bit endless. Sora had been here, even if he wasn't _exactly_ the same. Maybe Namine was here too, and, if he was lucky, she wouldn't be much different.

"Maybe she is, but the question still remains, is she the Namine you remember?" Vexen paused, waiting for Riku to respond. When he didn't, he continued. "And if so- does she remember you?"

"Quit the riddles!" Riku said. He didn't want to think much about that fact. "Why are you even bringing this up?"

"I thought the news would please you," Vexen replied. "Don't you want to see her?"

He turned away. The answer was yes, of course, but he couldn't tell Vexen that. He frowned, remembering something. He cast a cold glare at Vexen. "Shouldn't you know? You were the one who spent weeks raiding my memories."

Vexen smiled slowly.

"That means you should also know-" he raised his blade. "How much I dislike you!"

Vexen almost looked shocked, and he summoned his own weapon. Shortly after he summoned an icicle, and threw it at Riku. Riku rolled quickly out of the way and watched as it shattered against the wall. He turned and shot Vexen a look of pure hatred.

A scream escaped his lips, and it was a fierce battle cry. Rage pounded through him. He had thought it was Larxene he hated, but, maybe he was wrong. Vexen was the one who had started this entire thing. It was Vexen who allowed his memories to be rewritten.

He jumped into the air and brought his blade crashing down on Vexen, who blocked it with his large shield.

It didn't matter if this was a parallel universe. In fact, this Vexen seemed to be crueler than the one he knew. His eyes were colder, more calculating. While Riku was considering this fact Vexen knocked him back with his shield.

Riku caught his balance quickly. He shifted into Dark Mode and shot Dark Firaga in one fluid movement. Vexen stumbled back, but quickly moved into another attack. A wall of ice needles spawned around him, and then started popping out of the floor in Riku's general direction.

With nothing to do but run away, Riku ran. But as soon as it was over he charged up Dark Aura.

_I hope he's getting the pain he deserves_, Riku thought bitterly. There was no telling what havoc Vexen had already created. _He has access to all my memories…_ that thought alone was unsettling. _And Namine might be here too-_

Nothing but silence past during this battle. Neither of them allowed cries of pain to escape their lips. They fought in silence. Cold, cruel, silence.

Riku slashed his blade quickly, bringing as much pain as he possibly could with each hit. Vexen would occasionally retaliate by knocking Riku back with his shield. Vexen could get no other attack in. Riku was too quick.

Anger and hatred would rise in Riku, but he would never say anything. He kept his mouth shut. But he used that anger to fuel each and every attack. He pulled Dark Aura twice in a row, and quickly followed up with Helm Split. Vexen was unable to escape his attacks.

_How is he not dead yet?_ Riku asked himself. He had never seen anyone live through three Dark Auras.

Vexen stepped forward and swiped Riku with his shield once, knocking Riku back, and then a second time, this time causing a pillar of ice to rise from the ground. While Riku was still off balance, Vexen charged up his most dangerous attack.

Riku felt the air around him grow cold, and then the entire room was filled with one large blizzard. Ice pelted him continuously. The ice was so thick in the air he couldn't see. Blindly, he struck out with his blade, and was surprised when it hit. The blizzard immediately stopped. Vexen stood there, shocked, and finally a cry of pain escaped him.

"Ready to give up?" Riku asked. He raised his blade, ready to finish Vexen off at any notice.

"Give up?" Vexen laughed, catching his breath. "Why would I do that? I still have yet to decide what is fueling your fight; is your hate for me, or your devotion to Namine?"

"Quit the experiments!" Riku yelled.

Vexen merely chuckled again as Riku prepared for a strike. "You wouldn't kill me just yet. I still hold to the answer to the question regarding Namine…"

Riku slashed before Vexen could continue. Vexen's eyes grew wide in shock and he fell to his knees.

"But-" he gasped, before fading away completely.

Riku made a face. Even if Namine wasn't here, he'd rather find out himself then have Vexen tell him straight out. Vexen had been getting annoying anyways. He turned towards the door that led to the next level.

Was Namine here?

There was only one way to find out…


	20. Hall of Replicas

here it is! Sorry it took so long, I spent FOREVER trying to make it sound right. Still not sure if I like the way it turned out. Maybe that's just me though. Hope you enjoy! =D

* * *

Riku's footsteps echoed in the large hall. It was dark, and a bit gloomy. Thousands of holding cells lined the wall. He looked around curiously. What in the worlds could be in here? What would the Organization need a room this big for?

Then it hit him.

Replicas.

These were all replicas.

Riku took a few steps back, looking at some of the replicas he had passed. He couldn't make out many faces, and he didn't recognize any of the faces he could make out. He glanced around, taking in every detail. Each cell had a note above it, naming the status of the replica. Some were "processing" others "temporarily disabled" and some "discontinued". Some even had the word: "failed" branded above them in bold letters.

Riku stared. This was insane. There were so many. So many replicas. The Organization must have spent years perfecting this. He spent a minute, just wondering if any of them had as many issues as he did. He almost felt sorry for them all.

_Maybe the Organization is nicer to their replicas here… _Riku thought, trying to comfort himself. Being a replica, it shook him to see this. Slowly, he tore his eyes away from one replica and continued on.

From somewhere above, two figures watched Riku pass by.

"Who's that?" one of them asked, nudging the other.

"I'm not certain," the second one replied, leaning forward to get a closer look. "But isn't that that Riku boy we were supposed to watch out for? I heard he was dangerous."

The first paused. "Nah," he said after a moment. "It's just a replica"

"Did we make a Riku replica?"

The first frowned. "I don't know…"

"Oh dear, you don't think he's a rogue do you?" the second asked wearily, looking at his companion. "I've had enough of rogues lately."

"A rogue?" the first laughed. "You're kidding me, of course not! It can't be a rogue if we haven't made a Riku replica."

"But that means he IS the Riku we were supposed to watch out for!" the second pointed out. The first one paused again, considering this.

"We could always go talk to him-"

"TALK TO HIM! Are you insane? If he's not one of ours then he should be treated as a rogue, and rogues do some crazy things. I'm not going down there!"

"What would our Senior say?" the first demanded. "He would consider you a disgrace!"

The second groaned. "I hate it when you're right," he muttered, and reluctantly followed his companion down the stairs.

Riku turned, and gasped. He summoned his blade and prepared to attack. "I thought I got rid of you!" he said, staring in shock at the figure that stood before him. He had just killed Vexen, hadn't he?

The figure paused. "What do you mean?"

Riku stared. "Well, aren't you Vexen?" he asked.

The figure nodded slowly. "Well, yes, but-"

"Then how are you still here?"

Vexen turned to the other figure.

"I told you he was dangerous!" the second hissed.

Riku lowered his blade slowly, getting a clear look at the second figure. It was also Vexen. How was there two of them?

The first seemed to get what he was thinking, for he said. "Ah, you have us mistaken for our Senior. We are merely Vexen replicas. I'm number 19."

"And I am number 23" the second said, straightening.

Riku blinked a few times, processing what had just happened. Vexen replicas? This was a bit… odd. "Oh," he said bluntly. But he didn't put it past Vexen to have done such a thing. "How many Vexen replicas are there?" He gasped after saying this, the sentence had just slipped out. The replicas didn't notice.

"Forty-two" number 23 replied quickly.

"Well… technically 43, but he's still being processed," 19 added slowly.

"Oh right!" 23 laughed. "Though if you want to get real technical-"

"Twenty-one Vexen replicas are active"

"Thirteen have been temporarily disabled"

"Five have failed"

"And three have gone rogue," 23 said this last one with a shudder.

Riku stared at the two of them. This was a bit insane. Forty-three Vexen replicas? And, what for? What was their purpose? Curious, he asked.

"Well, every time Vexen tries out a new method of replica making, he makes one of himself to make sure the method works," 19 said. "That, and he needs some help maintaining the replica program, and what better people to help him but himself? We don't tend to do much more than retrieve data and keep watch out for rogues though."

23 shuddered again, and 19 glared at him.

This replica program seemed very complex. Riku decided that he didn't want to know anymore at the moment. But, he could ask something else. The real Vexen hadn't been very clear on the subject, but maybe his replicas could be more helpful.

"Do you know of anyone named Namine?" he asked.

Number 23 nodded. "Why yes, we do. She is our Senior's latest project. He abandoned many other projects and temporarily disabled over thirty replicas to work on her. I do believe her data is still processing at the moment though, why do you ask?"

Riku didn't answer. His mind was reeling. Namine WAS here. But yet, she was a replica, just another creation of the Organization. Just another of these replicas that lined the walls.

Silence past for a second as he regained his composure.

"Where is she?" he asked quietly.

The two Vexen replicas looked at him almost uncertainly. They glanced at each other, and some silent message passed between them. Number 19 looked back at Riku and replied: "Right where you came in, there's a door right across from the entrance. Through that door is another hall. The door on her left leads to her."

Riku nodded. "Thanks," he said, and then headed off in that direction.

The Vexen replicas watched him go.

"Are you sure that was such a good idea?" 23 asked. 19 shrugged.

"I was only trying to be nice…" he replied quietly, scratching his head.

XXX

Riku pushed the door open slowly and slipped inside. There was nothing special to say about the room which he entered. It looked like every other room in Castle Oblivion. The walls were white and the furniture was white; as was the norm for Castle Oblivion. The room contained nothing more than a single cot, a chair, and a small table. Though, this was a bit more furniture in one room than found elsewhere in the Castle.

He almost didn't notice her at first. She blended in with the walls. She was wearing white, and her skin was almost deathly pale. He was at her side in seconds. His fists clenched for a split second, but then he relaxed and sunk to his knees.

Riku smiled, and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. The Organization's teasing and complaining had left him clueless as to what was actually going on. But here was his answer. Namine really was here.

He sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She was sleeping, and he wasn't about to just go and wake her up, she seemed to be at peace. He pushed himself to his feet and headed over to the table, out of pure curiosity. A stack of blank paper lay on it. Riku noticed after a second that there was a paper out of line with the stack, and it had writing on it. He gently pulled it out.

Title: Namine

Created from: the data found in Riku's memories

Status: processing

Notes: I am unsure of how this replica will work out. Created from someone else's memories, those memories may have left traces of thought left behind, she may remember more than she should. But if anything, it looks like Namine, sounds like Namine, and will most likely end up thinking enough like Namine to pass. I doubt I'll need to edit her further, but I suppose I could equip her of some knowledge of Riku. Then she'll be less likely to fall out of control during the setup of this plan. Otherwise, she'll remain a bit clueless and confused as to what is going on. Marluxia seems to have confidence in her, though she does not possess the qualities he was originally searching for. She is unable to manipulate anyone's memories, that I am aware of. I suppose that isn't much of a problem, but I see little use in her without this power. No matter, I am merely the creator; I don't often decide what happens to these replicas once they are made. I'll wrap this report up for now, it's already longer than it should be.

Anger pulsed through Riku and he did his best not to tear the note to shreds right then and there. It faded a bit as he glanced over the note again. This was obviously written by Vexen, and Riku's anger against him faltered. He almost felt bad about destroying him now. Vexen seemed VERY different in this universe.

The anger rose up again like a snake, only this time it was aiming at Marluxia. Forget Vexen, Marluxia was the REAL threat here. Marluxia was the one REALLY in charge.

Marluxia was also the only Organization member left here.

Riku turned to the sleeping Namine, then glanced back at the note, and then back at her. After a second, he turned to the door. _I can worry about her later…_ he thought. _Right now, I need to deal with Marluxia._

For some odd reason, he folded up the note and stuck it in his pocket. After that, he headed out of the room, a look of pure determination on his face and something like revenge mixed with anger running through his veins.

One last battle, and then this would all be over.

* * *

okay, if you are wondering "what the heck is with the Vexen replicas?" well, in the CoM manga, there were Vexen replicas. The idea worked it's way into this story, and there you have it. Appologies if the scene with the Vexen replicas is a bit choppy. I hope it's alright...  
also, concerning the replicas, in this parallel universe, Castle Oblivion is the home base for the replica program. If you have further questions on the replica program, message me, the explanation is to long and a bit irrelevent to put here.


	21. The Last Battle

I had something important that needed to go here...  
OH YEAH! on my profile there is a link to a trailer I made for this fanfic (mainly because I was bored) and, well, that's it. you should check it out

* * *

Silence surrounded him. He was so quiet, Marluxia didn't even notice him walk in. He smirked and summoned his blade and then quickly charged. Marluxia only just managed to pull out his scythe in time to block him and glared at Riku.

"Why you- you sneaky little replica!" Marluxia gasped, swinging his scythe so Riku was knocked back. Riku caught his balance and glared daggers. Marluxia had just crossed the line before they had even started talking.

"What did you just say?" Riku asked, keeping his voice as level as possible.

Marluxia chuckled. "Angering you was almost too easy." He raised his scythe again to block Riku when he attacked again.

"Why?" Riku growled, raising his blade and striking again. "Tell me why you created her! What are you planning?"

Marluxia grunted and swung his scythe yet again to knock Riku back. Riku back-flipped this time, caught his balance mid air and lunged himself at Marluxia again, who backed up out of the way of the slash of his blade.

Riku gasped and his eyes went wide. "Wait a minute, you were planning on using her to control- control-" he paused, stopping mid-sentence. He stared at Marluxia with an EXTREMELY confused expression. "Hang on, you realize that plan FAILED, right? Why are you trying this?"

"Considering the circumstances are different-" Marluxia began, but didn't continue.

"You were planning on using her to control _me_!" Riku shouted, angry.

Marluxia laughed now, cold and cruel. He slashed his scythe through the air, and a shock wave sent itself out towards Riku. He raised his own blade to block it and was pushed back by the force of the blow. He threw Dark Firaga quickly, then twice more in rapid succession. Marluxia was hit by the first two, but blocked the last with his blade.

"Your devotion to Namine is too strong for the plan not to work," Marluxia stated simply with the utmost confidence. He took a step forward and swung his scythe at Riku, who rolled out of the way.

"Plan? What plan?" Riku asked as he rushed forward and attacked Marluxia. "You're the only Organization member left alive in this castle!" Marluxia dodged the attack.

"You're forgetting about Axel"

"Well yeah, but the odds of him betraying you are high, aren't they?"

Marluxia chuckled again, clearly amused. "You don't miss a thing do you?" He attempted to teleport out of the way of Riku's next attack, but he had pulled Dark Aura in time and caught Marluxia in that attack.

"Besides," Riku laughed as he plunged his blade into the ground, ending the attack. "Even if you had help, this plan is going to end right here." He pulled Helm Split at this point, and leapt forward to attack Marluxia.

"You will never defeat me!" Marluxia swung his scythe, hitting Riku in the stomach and knocking him back. Riku grunted as he hit the opposite wall and slowly slid to the floor. He sat there for a second with his eyes closed, fighting off the pain. When he opened his eyes, Marluxia was hovering in the air in front of him, scythe raised ready to strike.

Marluxia slashed his blade downwards, causing an energy ripple the shape of his blade to lash out. Riku barely rolled out of the way and threw Dark Firaga again. When Marluxia was stunned by that, he pulled Helm Split again and successfully preformed it this time.

"Even if I don't defeat you, what are you going to do about me?" Riku asked. "You can't have me dead, now can you?"

"I would have hoped to have you unmarred, originally. But you have proved to be near uncontrollable. If you are destroyed, so be it, we have collected enough data to create a new Riku."

Riku made a noise between a growl and a grunt. He ran forward and stabbed Marluxia. Marluxia swung his scythe, and Riku back-flipped out of the way. He caught his balance and charged forwards again, pulling a nice combo before backing off.

"Is that your answer to everything? Create a replica?" Riku shouted, temper rising.

Marluxia didn't answer. Instead, he summoned three whirlwinds of petals, and sent them all at Riku. He ran, attempting land a hit on Marluxia as he rushed past. He had to keep running though. He jumped and kicked off a wall, and flipped over a slightly surprised Marluxia. The whirlwinds stopped and the petals came shooting at him like missiles. As it was impossible to avoid them due to being mid-flip, Riku suffered major damage. Marluxia swung his scythe, and knocked Riku back. He hit the ground with a _thud_ and slid back a few feet due to the momentum. He groaned.

_Gotta dodge that stupid scythe, _he thought bitterly. _This is the second time this happened._ He jumped to his feet and quickly threw Dark Firaga, before rushing forward and pulling a combo or two. He quickly jumped back out of the way to avoid being hit again.

"Your attempts are pathetic," Marluxia laughed, slamming his scythe into the ground. A crack slowly snaked through the ground from the impact point. The crack grew larger, and more cracks grew. Riku jumped out of the way just in time as a large fissure appeared right under him.

"Is that all you got?" Riku taunted.

Suddenly, Marluxia threw his scythe at Riku. It spun, catching speed as it went. It spun faster and faster, heading right towards him. Thinking quick, Riku dropped to the floor. The scythe flipped past right over his head, just barely.

Riku took a second to breathe, making sure the scythe wasn't going to come back like a boomerang. He then sprung forward and leapt into the air, bringing his blade crashing down.

There was a pause. Almost no movement. One second passed, two seconds, each filled silence. The moment passed, Marluxia stumbled back and screamed. He reached forward as he started to fade, possibly trying to summon his scythe (which happened to be embedded in the opposite wall). His essence was fading, and flower petals surrounded him. The flower petals seemed to be eating him away. Soon, nothing but a puff of darkness was left of him, and flower petals fell slowly to the floor.

He was gone.


	22. Homecoming

"That was easy, now wasn't it?"

Riku turned at the stranger's voice. The stranger stood by the wall, right next to Marluxia's scythe, which hadn't disappeared along with its owner. He looked at it for a second then reached out to grab it. But as soon as his hand closed around the handle it disappeared in a puff of flower petals. The stranger slowly opened his closed fist in disgust and brushed the petals off his hand and let them fall to the floor. He took a few steps away from the pile of petals on the floor and then looked at Riku.

The stranger looked even more tired than usual. "I must warn you, before I go. Now that the Organization's gone from here, Namine's safe. She no longer needs protection." He sunk slowly to the ground to the ground and leaned against the wall, eyes closed. He took a few labored breaths before opening his eyes again. "At least, that's what happened in the other universe. Things are different this time around. Namine's a replica, not a Nobody, and she was created only recently. While she no longer needs protection from the Organization-"

"She needs protection from everything else," Riku finished, sitting down next to the stranger.

"Exactly" the stranger sighed. "But, there is one small detail. She doesn't know who you are. Not really. I think she has some small fragmented idea that you exist, and that's about it."

Riku nodded, thinking of Vexen's note and how in it Vexen said he needed to 'equip Namine with some memories of him'. He sighed, and then asked quietly. "So she won't remember me, at all? Not even a little."

The stranger laughed, and the laughter turned into a fit of coughing. As soon as the coughing stopped he dared to respond. "I'm not sure if I'm the person you need to ask that question. I have no idea. I'm assuming no, especially after you killed Vexen. But it's impossible to tell, considered she was created using your memories. Something might start leaking."

Riku had stopped paying complete attention. He had faltered, mind spinning, thinking. Thinking of a possibility. A very vague possibility, but a possibility never the less. He jumped to his feet, and the stranger raised his eyebrows.

"The Vexen Replicas! Maybe they know something" he said, before running off. He stopped right before he ran out the door. He turned back to the stranger, who smiled. "Thank you," he said. "For everything! If it weren't for you, well…" He grinned.

"Go," the stranger said. "Do what you need to do."

Riku ran off.

XXX

Riku ran straight to the Hall of Replicas. He ran into the Vexen replicas in no time.

"You found her?" number 19 asked. Riku nodded.

"I have a question," he said. "I was wondering, if you perhaps knew, will she remember me?"

The two Vexen replicas exchanged glances. 23 frowned. "I'm not sure…" he muttered. "She was created using your memories, I suppose something could start leaking. But… most likely not."

19 nodded in agreement with that statement. "Memories are tricky things, so it is possible. But I think we've refined this process enough that nothing will leak. And she wasn't created with any memories of you. Our Senior never had enough time to edit that data. I'm sorry Riku, but there's no way."

"Could- could you do anything?" Riku asked.

"I suppose, we could, with time," 19 replied. 23 whacked him. "Ow!" 19 gasped, rubbing his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"We can't just go and give her memories without orders!" 23 hissed "Do you realize the trouble we'd be in? I don't care if you're trying to be nice, but we can't!"

19 smiled weakly at Riku and shrugged. "Sorry, but he's right. We really can't."

Riku clenched his fists and looked away. He had thought for just a moment, maybe, just maybe, he could have Namine back. He had Namine, sure, but she had no idea who he was. It hurt him, just a bit. "It's alright" he said. "It's fine, really." It didn't matter, not really. At least she was here. It didn't really matter whether or not she remembered. It would have been nice, but it didn't matter. "Thanks anyways." He turned, heading out.

"Sorry!" 19 called as Riku left.

XXX

Riku entered Namine's room quietly, trying not to disturb her. She still slept peacefully. He had dropped Dark Mode a while ago. Slowly, he walked over to her bedside. He stood for a second, thinking of what he should do. He knew he had to return to the Islands, but he wasn't sure of exactly how to do so, considering Namine was still asleep. He didn't want to wait until she woke up.

Slowly, he picked her up, being as gentle as possible. With her in his arms, he took one last glance around the room before opening up a portal. Riku didn't notice, but a small smile spread across Namine's face. Her right hand clenched in a tight fist around something that she clutched to her chest.

Riku took a breath and then stepped through the portal, heading back to Destiny Islands.

XXX

It was sometime much later, and Riku sat on the shore. Namine lay in the sand next to him, still asleep. She had yet to wake up, and didn't have the nerve to wake her. He glanced at her nervously from time to time, unsure of what to do. It was during one of these glances that he noticed something. Namine was clutching something very tightly in her hand. His eyes darted to her sleeping face, then back to her hand. Curiosity got the better of him, and he pried her fingers open gently. She had been holding onto a crumpled ball of paper.

He put the piece of paper aside and ran his fingers over her hand, wincing. She had been holding on to that paper for so long and so tightly that it had dug into her skin. Specks of blood dotted her hand where the paper had cut it, and the rest of her hand was swollen and bruised.

_What's on that paper that's so important? _He wondered, and picked up the crumpled ball. Slowly, he unfolded it and tried to smooth it out. He glanced over it, and shed a single tear. It was a drawing of him. Scribbled almost frantically was:

_I have no idea who you are  
__And yet, I keep thinking of you  
__I close my eyes and I see you smile  
__When the world is quiet I hear your voice  
__Who are you?  
__Do I know you?  
__You seem so familiar  
__And yet, I can't remember you  
__But if I think of you every moment I'm awake  
__And dream of you when I sleep  
__You must be important  
__But I have no idea who you are_

He stared in the paper in shock. It was a message, a message for him. She was crying out, confused. She knew of him, but not who he was.

He looked over at her. This was exactly what the stranger had told him. This was exactly what the Vexen replicas had pointed out. This was exactly what Vexen's note had said. If he had been trying to deny it before, he could no longer deny it. She had no idea who he was. No idea whatsoever.

"I really am starting over," he muttered, neatly folding up the picture. He stuck it in his pocket and turned back out to the horizon. He had to figure out what he was going to say to her. And he had until she woke up to do so.


	23. Epilogue

OHMYGOSH! this is the last chapter. I would like to thank my sister for coming up with the LOVELY explanation of who Namine is to Riku. this chapter would probably not have been uploaded till tomorrow without her help because i would have been like "uhh..." anyways, enough rambling, ENJOY!

* * *

She awoke to the sound of waves. It was a soothing sound, and she was tempted to let it lull her back to sleep again. Her mind quickly snapped into shock as she realized something. She unclenched her right hand and clenched it again, almost hoping to find it there when she double checked. But it wasn't there.

"Oh no!" she gasped, sitting up, feeling around. But the paper was gone.

"Something wrong?" someone asked. He was sitting next to her, looking at her curiously. She recognized him. It was that one boy she had drawn in the picture. The picture that she had lost. She was devastated, the picture was meant for him, and she couldn't even give it to him.

"Shoot," she whispered, turning away. Had Vexen taken it? It would be terrible if he had. "The picture," she said. "I had a picture and-" she stopped as the boy reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"This picture?" he asked, handing it to her. She took it and unfolded it. Relief flooded through her.

"Y-yeah" she said, looking around. There was nothing but ocean to one side of her. She sat on a beach, sand was EVERYWHERE. "W-where am I?" she asked, panic creeping into her voice.

The boy smiled. The smile was kind, and familiar, yet it did little to sooth her uneasiness. "Destiny Islands" he replied. "Don't worry, you're safe."

"But, wait-" she looked around a bit more. "How did I get here?" She couldn't remember much. She had been in a room with white walls, and she had been talking to that stranger before she had fallen asleep. But she couldn't remember anything else.

"I couldn't leave you there, now could I?"

"Leave me?" she as very confused. "So you-" He nodded before she could even finish the question. She stared at him as he turned his gaze back towards the horizon. Silence passed. She thought hard, trying to see if she could remember him. She knew she knew him, but from where?

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked quietly after a moment.

"No," she replied sadly, feeling terrible.

"No! Don't feel bad!" he told her. "It's not your fault."

She looked at the picture in her hand, and then slowly handed it to him. "I've been thinking of you though…" she said quietly. He took the paper and nodded, and slowly stuck it in his pocket again.

"I know. I've seen," he explained simply. "You're good at drawing, you know?"

"Thanks," she whispered, blushing.

"My name's Riku, by the way," he said.

"I'm Namine" she replied, even though she had a feeling he already knew that. Silence passed yet again. Nervously, she spoke up: "So who are you, exactly?" She had been afraid to ask at first, but she was dying to know. "Like, to me?"

He didn't answer at first. His fist clenched, then relaxed, then clenched again, like a nervous twitch. Finally, he answered: "I'm not entirely sure, who I am to you. I know who you are to me, though. You're-" he paused, shook his head, and then laughed. "Great, now I can't say it. I sat here for like an hour, trying to figure out what I was going to say when you woke up, and now I can't work up the nerve to say it."

"Say what?"

"Namine…" His voice got quiet, barely above a whisper. "You're everything to me."

She stared at him. "Wh-what?" she asked. He smiled again.

"I know, I could have probably explained that better. But it's true. And complicated, since you don't remember." He sighed, and she looked away. "Hey! I already told you not to feel bad about it," he said firmly.

"But… _why _can't I remember?" she asked as she turned to look at him again.

His smile faded and he turned away. "I'm not sure," he said quickly and a bit rough.

She looked at him and frowned. Something wasn't right. Hoping to change the subject to something lighter, and something he would be willing to talk about, she said: "So, why exactly couldn't you leave me?"

The smile returned to his face, though it was a bit uneasy. "I promised you. I promised I'd keep you safe. If I had just left you in Castle Oblivion, I would have broken that promise."

"Riku… I- I don't remember…" she whispered.

"I know," he replied. He grabbed her hand. "That's why I'll say it again. I will protect you. I promise." He squeezed her hand. She looked up at him, and couldn't help but smile herself. The look of determination on his face, and that twinkle in his eyes; she knew he meant it. And for a second, she kind of remembered. Or maybe, it was the memory within his heart resonating with the faint traces of memory within hers. She squeezed his hand back.

They sat there for a while, enjoying the moment. It broke when someone shouted from behind: "Riku!"

They dropped hands, and Riku turned. As soon as he caught sight of who it was, he laughed. Sora and Kairi were running towards them.

"Took them long enough to realize I was here" he muttered, standing up. He held his hand out to Namine, who took it, and he helped her to her feet.

"Hey Riku, when did you get back?" Sora asked.

"Not long ago" Riku replied.

"And who's this?" Kairi asked, looking at Namine.

"I'm Namine," she said.

"I'm Sora"

"I'm Kairi"

"Riku, you've GOT to tell us what happened while you were gone," Sora said.

Kairi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, maybe you can tell us over dinner."

"We can head back to my place," Sora suggested. "My mom's getting pizza tonight."

Riku turned to Namine. She shrugged, looking completely clueless as to what was going on. Riku smiled and turned back to Sora. "Sure," he said.

"Alright, let's go!" Sora ran off, Kairi following after him.

"I'm not running!" Riku called after them.

"Has your life always been like this?" Namine asked.

Riku shook his head. "No," he said with a shrug. "But this is how it's been ever since I came here. Now come on, I'm not so sure about you, but I'm starving." Namine laughed, and the two followed after Sora and Kairi.

* * *

yes, that is the ending. Yes, I do plan on writing a sequel to this. more of that is covered in my authors note which is the next chapter


	24. Author's Note

Author's note:

WHOOT! This is really kind of stupid, but this is the first story I have EVER finished. And I couldn't have finished it without some help.

I would like to thank MabinogiFan on GameFAQs. I would not have been able to write this without that game script. Well, I would have, but it would taken a lot more time and a lot of watching scenes till I got sick of them.

I would also like to pspgameboycutscenes on youtube, whose videos I watched to get me more than just what people were saying during the scenes.

Also, I thank Nova_Scar on GameFAQs. I could not have gotten those battles done without that walkthrough.

I also need to thank my sister, who helped me through at least the last half of this story and pointed out simple mistakes I made and things I had that didn't make sense.

Thank you readers! You guys were a ton of help also. The reviews were great, and I love the fact that my inbox was half full of notifications saying that people had added my story to their favorites, to their story alerts, or that a review had been submitted. Also, thanks for hanging in there as my updates became more sporadic.

Yes, I do plan on having a sequel. I mean, half the Organization is still alive, and probably really mad at Riku. The sequel's just going to explain how the events of Kingdom Hearts worked out in this parallel universe, especially since Riku's thrown off the balance of everything. I can't say much more than that, but I assure you, it's going to be epic.

Oh, and before I wrap up, don't ask me what happened to Lexaeus. I think I included him in one scene, but I have no idea what happened to him after that. He just walked out of the story and I never ended up writing a scene for him. As soon as I realized that though, I was already finished with the Vexen battle, and was unsure of where to include him. And I'm too lazy to go back and add a chapter in with him. Though I will probably go back and just edit him out of that one scene.

If you have any questions concerning say… the stranger, or maybe the replica program, or whatever, message me. I'll explain.

UPDATE! Sequel's up. It's called "Falling to Pieces"


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